Зима Пришла

November 21, 2016


Привет всем!

This week has been nothing short of incredible! This week we have been blessed with a lot of tender mercies from the Lord. To start with, we were finally able to meet with Alexander, our old investigator from Stavropol. We asked him if he had been able to continue studying the gospel in the time that he had lost contact with the missionaries, and he told us "Of course!". He's read the book of Mormon in it's entirety, and began again. Right now he's in Alma 42, and shared a few of his insights from reading there this past week. We talked with him about baptism and asked him when he would be able to enter into that covenant with the Lord. Without hesitation he said "Right now. Let's do it tomorrow!" We told him we would be in Stavropol this weekend to bless the sacrament, and that we could organize a baptismal service then if everything works out, but he couldn't make the trip up on such a short notice. He committed to the 10th of December, and we're working with the members down there to get everything organized. We're really excited for him and the progress that he's making! 

This Saturday before we left for Stavropol we were able to make it out to Tolik, who lives over in Bolshoi Log(just outside of Aksai) and meet with him and his sister Olga. We shared a few verses with them from Romans chapter 8, and focused on the phrase "suffer with Him". In the course of discussion, and after asking a few questions that clearly must have been from God, Olga broke down and told us that she feels she doesn't have a testimony of this church. We then asked her if she wanted a testimony, she paused and thought for a moment, and said she doesn't know if she does. I asked her then, what it would mean for her personally, if this church was true, what would come as a result of that. She thought for a moment and then listed a few of the blessings that would come as a direct result of this church being true, and that she does want to know. We committed her to kneel in prayer that night and ask for that knowledge. We'll stop by as soon as their work schedule permits to see how it went and continue working with her. If she returns to activity, it very well could mean the return of her entire family to activity, and we're both really excited to see the blessings they're going to see as they make their way back. 

I'd just like to testify again that the Lord knows us, and He loves us. He is there for us no matter how far off we may have drifted, or how many mistakes we may have made. All that He asks of us is to walk with Him, to take up our cross and follow Him. It may be a difficult task in the beginning, but the beauty of it is that He will be with us every step of our journey, and that alone is enough for me. Overall I'm just glad to be here. I'm grateful for the fact that the Lord sent me to this particular part of Russia to work with these people. I feel such a strong love for every single one of them, and hope that I can play even a small role in their personal progression back to our Father in Heaven. I love you all! Hope all is well!

Until next time,

Старейшина Кэмптон

Transfer week!

November 14, 2016

Привет всем!

This week has been pretty great! We've had all kinds of fun experiences, but I'll start off with transfer news! Unfortunately Elder Boyer is heading out to a town called Novorossiysk, and I'll be getting a new companion, Elder Burwell! I'm honestly pretty bummed that we got split up so fast, but I'm excited to get with Elder Burwell and keep the work going as well as it is right now! 

We had our visa trip this weekend to Armenia, and that was a bit of an experience! For some reason all of our flights were booked pretty closely together, so we had just a little over an hour in Moscow and a little under two hours in Armenia. Due to poor weather conditions in Moscow our plane got delayed significantly, and by the time we hit Armenia, we had missed our flight by 10 minutes or so. 

We scrambled, made some calls, and got some tickets for a flight to Moscow for a few hours later, waited another few hours in the airport for our connecting flight back to Rostov and got home at around 3 in the morning! Almost 24 hours of traveling, but we've got our visas so it was all worth it! Other than that, this week has been filled with a lot of cancelled appointments from non-members, and a good amount of meetings with active members! 

That's pretty much all I can think of for this week, sorry it's so short! Hopefully I'll have more to talk about next week though! Love you all! Hope all is well!

Until next time,

Старейшина Кэмптон

It Snowed!

November 7, 2016

Привет всем!!!

This week, like all weeks, has been incredible! I'll just start off with a couple of really awesome meetings we had! 

Earlier in the week we went over to a less-active member that recently was really offended by another church member, and she decided that she wouldn't go to church anymore because of it, but wasn't against meeting with us. We've just been coming over and talking with her for a bit and letting her vent, and then sharing some points from Come Follow Me, or just a spiritual thought that would help her recognize that the church is true regardless of the imperfect people that it consists of. The first couple of times we met with her, she talked a LOT about how she was offended, and really just complained, but by the time we met with her this week, she made one brief mention of the other member in passing, and seems to have just gotten over it! We'll hopefully be able to get her to church this Sunday! 

We were also able to go over to the Kirokosyani's home this week to follow up on some referrals they had mentioned. When we showed up, a bunch of their extended family was there, and they invited us to stay for dinner. While they prepared a few things, we helped the kids with an assignment for Sunday School, and shared a spiritual thought with them, and then ate dinner. We were able to answer a few basic questions for those that weren't members(it was all according to the law, don't worry, haha!), and then Pavel and Marina(the two members) started answering as well, and testifying of the truthfulness of the church. It was a really cool experience, and everyone there said they would come to church the next day to see what it was all about. Only a mother and her daughter showed up, but she seemed to really enjoy it, even though she slipped out before we were able to catch her and teach her a lesson. 

Some more really exciting news this week! An old investigator of ours, Aleksander, from my time in Stavropol fell off the face of the earth when we left. He lives out way south east of here, and we met with him over skype, and when the area got whitewashed they just lost contact with him somehow. I'm not really sure how, but earlier this week he managed to get a hold of the elders serving in north Rostov and tell them that he wanted to meet with us and get baptized. They passed his information over to us today, and we'll be meeting with him throughout this week! 

The Lord really is preparing people for us, just as He has in the past. I'm so humbled to play even a small role in this work, and rejoice in the fact that there are so many people here ready and willing to partake of our Savior's atoning sacrifice. I love you all, and hope you're all doing well!

Until next time,

Старейшина Кемптон 

Hey Everyone!

October 31, 2016

Привет!

Hey everyone! This week has been super awesome! We've seen some amazing miracles over here in Selmash! A recent convert family we work with over here has been reaching out to some of their friends and said that they have 2 people that are interested in learning more about the church, so we'll hopefully be meeting with them this week, which is incredibly exciting! 

We were out in an outlying city called Aksai again and were able to get a meeting with a less-active over there who is probably one of the coolest people I've ever met! We're looking forward to continuing to work with her and help her come back! We had a big cook-off this week as well, and the turn out was pretty great! It was just a great opportunity to get people together and bond over soups and desserts! 

That's pretty much all that I've got time for this week, but just know that everything's great over here! Love you all, hope all is well!

Until next time,

Старейшина Кемптон

I'm out of ideas for Subject Lines!

October 24, 2016

Привет всем!

This week has been so awesome! I really have no time at all today so I'll try and fit in as much as possible as quickly as I can! 

To start with, we were blessed with the opportunity to meet with a general authority this week at our zone conference! Elder James B. Martino from the area presidency came and did a mission tour! It was a really incredible experience to have time to be taught by a general authority in such a small setting, with only a handful of other people there among us. We talked a lot about the work we're doing out here, and set some new goals for exactly how and what we will be doing in the future. We're all really excited for the goals we've set, and I am confident that we'll be seeing miracles and incredible growth in the following weeks! 

This week me and my companion have seen a lot of miracles! This saturday we made a trip out to a city called Aksai and visit as many less actives as we could. We made just about a hundred cookies, grabbed as many liahonas as we could, and hopped on a bus for about an hour or so and started knocking! Most of the people didn't answer, and a couple of them accepted the cookies but didn't let us in, but after a few hours of running around, a member finally let us in! She fed us dinner and we were able to share a thought from the most recent Liahona with her! She was so grateful for us being there and has so much to potential to return to activity! We'll hopefully be able to work with her a lot more often in the future, so I'll keep you all updated! 

Another small miracle was last night at a recent converts house. We had finished teaching a lesson to him, and as we were leaving he told us we should drop in and say hello to his sister, whose husband isn't currently a member. She was super grateful to see us and told us about how much she wanted to help her husband. We're fasting with her and her family this week that God will help us find a way to reach out to him, and we're all really excited! 

That's really all I have time for, but I love you all! Hope all's well!

до следующего раза,

-Старейшина Кэмптон

Back to Stavropol

October 17, 2016

Привет всем!

This week has been all kinds of fun, even though pretty much all of our appointments ended up cancelling on us last minute! It's all good though, we were able to keep ourselves pretty busy with whatever free time we had! We went and dropped off some flowers to a recent convert that's been struggling with some things recently, baked cookies and dropped them off to some less-actives and active members, and started sifting through all of our records to get to know some of the inactive members a little better! 

I've sort of been putting off writing this in my weekly e-mail home for a while now, but last transfer the branch in Stavropol got shut down due to our only priesthood leader moving to Moscow. It was really sad to see those saints have the privilege of weekly partaking of the sacrament taken from them, but the Lord knows what he's doing. This Saturday me and my companion were able to take an 8 hour night train down to Stavropol, rent out a small hotel room and hold a sacrament meeting for them there! While only 4 saints were able to be in attendance, the spirit was tangible as we sang a few hymns and bore our testimonies. I really am so grateful to have been born in a place where the church was already established, and to have enjoyed all the blessings that come as a result of that. I just realized that I'm running a little low on time, so I'm probably going to cut it off right here, but just know that I love you all, and hope you're all doing well! 

Here's a few pictures as well, because I don't really send pictures out in these mass emails very often! 

Until next time,

Старейшина Кэмптон

Pictures:

 We made Borscht this week

 In Stavropol

Getting ready for winter - my new coat!

Another Great Week

October 10, 2016

Привет всем,

This week's been super great! We were able to head out to this small town way outside of Rostov to go meet with a less active young man named Толик(Tolik). His older sister ended up being there because "she didn't know we were coming over until 2 minutes before we showed up", and she didn't seem too excited to see the missionaries. We were able to have a really awesome meeting with them, and answer a bunch of questions that she had for us! 

When we got home we realized that we still didn't know a whole lot about who they actually were and where they stood as far as ordinances go. It turns out that Tolik is actually a melchezidek priesthood holder, and that both of his parents have been endowed, and are sealed together. It's so crazy to me that this family has sort of just fallen off of the map and been forgotten about, and that they're all so close to returning to activity! It's so cool to see that there are still people here for us to help every single day, and that the Lord is just continuing to send them to us! This is probably all the time I've got for today, but I love you all! Hope you're all doing well!

до следующего раза,

Старейшина Кемптон

Watching Conference with his District 

Selmash Week 2

October 3, 2016

Приветик!

Hey there everyone! This week has seriously been so incredible! We've got so many people to work with over here in Selmash, and it's a bit overwhelming when we see how much needs to get done, but it's just super awesome that we have so many lives to bless and people to help! 

We stopped by a family earlier this week to help their daughters with English, and had a really awesome meeting with her! She shared her testimony with us about how much she appreciated the church, and everything that it does for her! It always gives me so much hope seeing the rising generation being raised by faithful parents. While the church may not be the largest over here, the saints are some of the strongest, and I am amazed almost every day by how incredible everyone is! We've also been working with an 11 year old preparing to get the priesthood, and he's way awesome as well. His mom isn't a member, but he still comes to church every week, and is always ready to help us however he can! 

There's just a really strong sense of unity between all of the members here, and we're hoping to bring a lot of them back! This week has really just been so awesome for me, and I'm not 100 percent sure why, but everything just seems to make sense right now. We've got a bunch of lessons planned for this week, and hopefully I'll have some more awesome stories to tell you all when I get on next week! 

That's pretty much it for this week though! I hope you're all doing well! I love you all!

Until next time,

Старейшина Кэмптон

Reunited

September 26, 2016

Привет всем, 

This week has been way awesome! We got transfer calls a week early, because it was just easier logistically with missionaries that are leaving. 

I got reunited with my companion from last transfer, Elder Boyer, and we'll be serving together in a small district of Rostov called Selmash, working with some less-actives there. I'm also going to be the district leader here in center, which should be fun! Unfortunately, due to all kinds of running around today, I seriously have just about enough time to say hello and let you all know that I'm doing fine! Hopefully I'll have more time next week! Love you all!

С уважением,

Старейшина Кемптон

Another Week Down!

September 19, 2016

Привет всем!

 This week has been pretty uneventful, but also way fun! We were able to stop by a less-active member named Toma this week! She's paralyzed on the left side, so we help her pretty frequently, but this week we went by and had the Sisters cut her hair, while we cleaned up some stuff around her house for her! She was super grateful, like always, and it was just a good morale boost for the week! She was so happy with her new haircut that she wanted to take a picture with me so that she could remember how great she looked, and so that she wouldn't forget us volunteers!

Last night we went and visited an active member named Kostya. He's pretty much one of the coolest Russians I've ever met! He served a mission in Ukraine, and speaks pretty much flawless English. He pulled out his guitar while we were over there and started playing some songs by Depeche Mode and Erasure, and it was seriously one of the strangest things ever. Those were pretty much the last two groups I would expect somebody to know over here, haha! 

Other than that, not a whole lot has happened! The work we're doing here really does have a huge impact on the lives of those that we're serving! It really is a blessing to be given the opportunity to play such a big role in the lives of these Saints over here! I love you all, and hope you're doing well!

Until next time,

Старейшина Кемптон

Another great Week in Rostov

September 12, 2016

Здравствуйте!

Hey there everybody! It's been an absolutely fantastic week here in Center Rostov! We've had a whole lot of way awesome experiences with some less actives, and our investigator Sasha, but I don't really have time to tell you all about it! Rest assured that it's been fun though, and filled with all kinds of way awesome spiritual experiences! Hopefully I'll have a little more time to tell you all about it next week! Know that I love you all, and pray for you often! Hope that all is well!

Until next time,

-Старейшина кэмптон

(Staryeshina Kempton)

Rostov Center Week 8

September 5, 2016

Здравствуйте

This week has been awesome(like every week)! We've had a bunch of different service opportunities and activities this week, and it's been super fun! We went and helped out at a local orphanage, and moved a ton of furniture up and down stairs, which was way fun! The people there were all super nice, and seemed pretty appreciative of all of the help that we gave. There were probably around 20 people there, including all of us volunteers and the elders quorum in the Severny Rostov branch! 

We've also been stopping by a member in the branch that's paralyzed on the left side, and has a hard time doing a lot of things. Her daughter usually helps out most of the time, but she's on vacation this week, so we've just sort of taken her place. We've picked up groceries for her, helped her prepare some food, clipped her fingernails, and all kinds of other small things. Every time we would come over, she just got the biggest grin on her face, and just showers us in compliments telling us how great we were, and how much she appreciated us for doing all these small things! 

We also had a way fun game night with some members and some non-members. We played the game "mafia", which was ridiculously confusing for pretty much everyone involved. There were a few students from Africa there that didn't speak the best Russian, so we had a few translators at different places to help them along, but even then it was still pretty rough. It was way fun though, everyone seemed to enjoy it! Then later in the week we had an institute kick off for the new semester, and most of the youth from the Rostov district were there. They served this drink(I can't remember what it's called) but it was basically just hot, melted jello, it was super tasty, but super weird at the same time. Other than that, not a whole lot has happened this week! Hope all is well with everyone! Love ya!

Until next time,

-Старейшина кэмптон

(Staryeshina Kempton)

Talent Show

August 29, 2016

Здравствуйте

Hey everyone! This week's been way awesome! I'm just having a great time serving people, and helping out the members here! This week we had a branch talent show, and it was seriously one of the greatest activities I've been to so far on my mission! There were almost 50 people there (which is a LOT of people compared to regular activities), and a good amount of them participated in the talent show! I got to play the guitar with the senior couple and another volunteer, which was super fun! It was just really cool to see everyone come together and have a good time with each other! We're hoping to have activities like this more often, just to help everyone become a little closer as a branch! 

We also were able to go down to that animal shelter again, and help rebuild some dog houses! When we showed up there was another 20 year old guy there that we hadn't met before, so we started talking to him. It turns out that he just showed up to help out. He said that he usually volunteers at different places that seem like they could use some help in his free time. He was honestly one of the coolest people I've ever met, so we all decided to take our dinner block at the top of this hill with a giant statue on top and eat some ice cream with him! He showed up to the activity and had a way good time! It was just really awesome to meet someone that cared about others and was so willing to give up his free time to help them! 

Other than that, not a whole lot has happened this week! We're still looking around for places we can help out on a more regular basis, but we haven't had a whole lot of luck as of yet! We're still hoping and praying that we'll find something though! I love you all, and hope everything is going great for ya! 

Until next time,

-Старейшина кэмптон

(Staryeshina Kempton)

Talent Show!

Transfers!

August 22, 2016

Здравствуйте

Hey everyone! It's been a way exciting week over here in Rostov Center! We got transfers this week, and I'll be staying here, but my companion and I are getting split up. He's headed over to another section of Rostov called Сельмаш (Selmash). There are a lot of less-active members over there that just need a little more attention so President decided to send an additional pair of missionaries there to work specifically with those members. There used to be an entire branch for that area, but it closed down awhile back. The church still owns the building though, so they'll be using it to hold branch activities for the members there! It should be way exciting! I'll continue to serve here in Center with my new companion Elder Macabee, who will be our new district leader! It should be a fun next transfer, and I'm looking forward to all kinds of fun stories!

This past week has been way awesome as well. This Thursday we flew out to Armenia to renew our visas, and it was awesome as always. I can't remember if I mentioned it last week or not, but we've been volunteering at a local animal shelter here and it's been a great experience to help these people! We made a ton of progress last time we went, and it was all worth it to see how grateful everyone there was for everything we'd done for them, even though it really didn't seem like much. 

We were also able to help out at a branch activity here this Saturday. We organized a Luau for the youth in our district, and held it out in a forest in the middle of the city! It was so fun, and everyone seemed to have a great time. That's pretty much all that happened this week though, hopefully I'll have more to send next week! Love you all, and hope you're doing well!

Until next time,

-Старейшина кэмптон

(Staryeshina Kempton)

 Boat Ride on the Don River with Elder Kempton's District.

Hi Everyone

August 15, 2016

Здравствуйте!

Hey everyone! Sorry this email is coming so late(actually, it's probably at a reasonable time in the morning over there, but it's like 7p.m here). I don't have a whole lot of time to email today, so I'll keep this email pretty short! This week has been way awesome! We've been having all kinds of way fun service activities! 

One of the members here, Kostya, called us and asked if we could help him tear up some concrete for him, so of course we said yes! We showed up expecting some sort of power tool or something like that to do it, but when we got there he literally handed us a giant metal pole that was somewhat pointed on end and flattened on the other and told us to go to work. I don't know what it's called in English, but in Russian it's called a лом. It took way long, and by the end we had some pretty sweet blisters on our hands, but we got the job done! The guy we did it for is actually a teacher at an English school here, so we were able to meet with him and he helped us a lot with our Russian, and gave us help with our accents! 

We also went down to an animal shelter and helped some people out there unload a big truck full of wooden planks, and hopefully next week we'll be coming back to build some dog houses! Other than that, not a whole lot has happened this week, and I don't really have a whole lot of time left to write, so I'll just call it good right there! I love you all, and hope everything is going great with you back there in the States or wherever you may be!

Until next time,

-Старейшина кэмптон

(Staryeshina Kempton)

Dustin's hands after doing concrete work!

Dustin has been enjoying cooking.  He is really enjoying it and is trying all sorts of new things!

Service

August 8, 2016

Здравствуйте!

Hey there everyone! Another super great week here in Russia! We're still looking all over the place for service opportunities, and trying to figure out how to adapt to all these changes that are taking place here, but we're having a great time doing it! We were able to head back to that same house where we got to use the scythe, and continue working on her yard! Her yard looks about 100 times better now that we're done with everything over there, and she's super appreciative of it. 

We also went over to a less active named Toma this week. She's super awesome, and has a firm testimony of the gospel, but she's paralyzed on her left side, so she can't really walk anywhere. We cleaned out a bunch of stuff in an old house on her property that's pretty much only held up by a stick and a couple of poles. 

We've been doing a lot of indexing here lately when we have absolutely nothing else to do, and I've been doing it in Russian, which has been pretty interesting. I've learned the older Russian alphabet used before the most recent language reform, and have pretty much gotten used to reading the cursive, which has been pretty fun! On the tops of all of the baptism, birth, and death records in Russia they used the really old alphabet, which looks pretty unrecognizable at first, but I've pretty much figured out all of the letters! That was pretty much our week though! Love you all, and hope all is well!

Until next time,

-Старейшина кэмптон

(Staryeshina Kempton)

The Moratorium is Almost Over

August 1, 2016

Привет!

Hey there everyone! This week's email is going to be pretty short as well, as we've pretty much been inside all week minus a few experiences that I'll explain later! But today is the last day of this little "freeze" so I'll hopefully have all kinds of way awesome stories to tell you all come next Monday! 

We've still been able to do some service though, which has been way fun! We went back to that house we were at last week where I learned how to use a scythe and finished everything up there, and it looks way awesome! We're hopefully going to plant a garden or do something there to make it look even better, because we have all kinds of time to do that now! 

This week we're also going over to a member named Toma, who's pretty much the coolest person ever! Every time we talk to her she tells us how smart we are, and that we're the best missionaries ever(which is what she says to everyone) but you always feel great after visiting her! Her house needs some major cleaning up, so we're pretty pumped to help her out! That's pretty much what's going on over here though! The work is still moving forward! We've got tons of baptisms lined up mission wide, and we'll only continue to have more! I love you all, and hope everything is going great with all of you!

Until next time,

-Старейшина кэмптон

(Staryeshina Kempton)

Volunteer Work

July 25, 2016

Здравствуйте!

Hey everyone! This week has been pretty uneventful, as may have been expected seeing as we're basically on holiday lockdown over here until next week! It's been a really awesome time to get a lot of things done that I usually don't have time for though! Our phone and area book are super organized, and we did a deep clean of our apartment, so everything is just awesome! 

I've had a lot of time to do some extra language study though, so that's been pretty awesome! I've got a stack of 125 new words that I wrote down this morning that I'm gonna try and learn today just to see if I can do it! Haha, other than that, not much has happened! 

We've had a couple of service opportunities this week that have been pretty entertaining! We went to do some yard work for a lady, and we she handed me a scythe and told me to go to work cutting down a huge field of weeds in her yard! It was pretty entertaining, and actually went pretty quick! Also, this week our zone leaders had me prepare a lesson on the history of Russia, and gave me a whole bunch of stuff to read and study, so I was able to learn a lot of really cool stuff about the culture here, and then share it with everyone else! To make it better. I showed up to teach it, and they had a Dr. Pepper with them! For those of you that don't know, Dr. Pepper is pretty much impossible to find over here, but apparently they know a place where you can buy some, and had heard that I really enjoy Dr. Pepper, so they bought me one! That's pretty much been this week though! I love you all, and hope everyone is doing well!

Until next time,

-Старейшина кэмптон

(Staryeshina Kempton)