First Full Week in Russia!

Здравствуйте!

Hey Everyone! Another week down here in Stavropol! This week has been crazy awesome! Everything here is so different, but somehow still so much the same. It's still a bit of a struggle understanding people when I talk to them, but I'm starting to get the general idea of what people are saying, haha! We've done a lot of street contacting this week, and we talk with absolutely everybody. It was a little bit intimidating when I first got here, just because everyone here looks like they could pretty much break me in half without a second thought. After a week though, there's really no fear anymore. We have a lot of really interesting conversations with people here. Sometimes they'll go off on tangents that have absolutely nothing to do with the question we asked or what we were talking about. Either that or I just really don't understand Russian, haha! It's been really awesome though. 

We got a new investigator this week named Фёдор(I don't actually know if that's how it's spelled, but it's pronounced sort of like Theodore but with an "f" instead of a "th") He's super awesome. He's super in tune spiritually and he was really just prepared for us to find him on the streets. We'll probably set a concrete baptismal date with him sometime this week! We have two other investigators that are both making a lot of progress. One of them actually moved to Siberia for a month, so we've just continued teaching him over Skype. It's so cool being a part of this work. Seriously, the people here are so awesome. Our branch is the best, even though it's super small. This Sunday we ended up having 9 people in attendance, and four of them were missionaries! As a side note I'm really regretting not learning how to play more hymns before I came out because I'm playing for them now and if I don't know it super well I have to just use the right hand, haha! I actually spoke this Sunday, which was pretty fun! I'm sure it was riddled with grammatical errors, but I'm getting better every day! I'm scheduled to speak again in 10 weeks, so hopefully they'll be able to see some improvement by the time that rolls around!  It's crazy how much faster you learn out here. I've made so much progress since I stepped off the plane in Rostov. There's so many words that you just pick up, and the grammar just starts to make sense. You sort of start to recognize when you make mistakes because it doesn't sound like it fits, even if you don't know how to say it correctly! It's so hard to explain what it's like over here. I wish you could all just come see it and experience it for yourself, but it's seriously just the greatest.

I'll just leave you all with a spiritual thought from a story that's come to my mind a couple of times this week. In D&C 101 there's a parable about a man that purchases some land. He hires a few workers, and tells them to plant 12 olive trees, build a hedge up around the garden, and place a watchtower in the center. They go to work and plant the trees, and make the hedge. When they begin to build the tower, however, they begin to question their master, and they talk about all of the better ways they could be spending their time, and their master could be spending his money. They argue like this for a while, not getting anything done, and then they all fall asleep. "And the enemy came by night, and broke down the hedge; and the servants of the nobleman arose and were affrighted, and fled; and the enemy destroyed their works, and broke down the olive trees." Sometimes we get a little bit caught up in asking why we've been commanded to do things, and wanting to understand exactly what the Lord's intentions were in giving us certain council. We get caught up in the alternatives, the things we could be doing better, and fail to recognize that the Lord knows all, and he gives no commandments unless there is a purpose. It's at these times in our lives that the enemy attacks, in whatever form that may be. I've found over this past week that the council of Gordon B. Hinckley's father is a pretty effective solution to this dilemma. "Forget yourself, and go to work". When we stop focusing on ourselves, and what we might think is best, and instead turn our focus to what the Lord wants us to do, we don't have to deal with the destructive results of the adversary's attacks. 

It's my firm testimony that the Lord has a plan for each and every one of us. One of the speakers while we were at the MTC said that this life is a lot like a tandem bicycle. In one seat, us, and in the other is the Lord. We can try and take the front seat, and steer the bike ourselves, but we're more than likely going to make some wrong turns. If we let the Lord steer though and just put our head down and pedal, he'll never steer is in the wrong direction, and we can get there a lot faster. I love you all strongly, and pray for you daily. Hope all is well back home or wherever you might be!

Until next time,

-Старейшина кэмптон

(Staryeshina Kempton)

He Made it!!!

Hey Family and Friends!

I'm safe and sound here in Russia! It's so crazy to think that all of you are halfway around the world right now, and it's super late at night, or really early in the morning depending on how you look at it! Traveling here was a little bit crazy, we left on a Tuesday night and ended up arriving on a Thursday night about the same time that we left in Russia. It was a pretty interesting experience for my first time stepping foot in an airport, let alone flying anywhere, haha! I basically just followed the other 2 people in my group and did everything they did. When we got to our terminal in JFK there were seriously like 500 people that looked like they were Amish, I almost took a picture but I figured that probably wasn't the most missionary thing to do. It turns out they were actually Jewish and they were all going to Israel to listen to a Rabbi, or something like that. I ended up sitting next to one of them on our 8 hour flight to Moscow and we had a pretty cool discussion about what each of us believe and I got to testify about prayer and it's role in our lives, and I learned some Hebrew at the same time so it was pretty much a win-win situation! 

When we got to Moscow I realized that I probably should have learned 1 or 2 words to help me get around an airport, haha, and the fact that they had a crazy thick accent didn't help me as far as understanding anything they were saying went. We went to the American Embassy in Moscow right after that and applied for our second passports and then went to a different airport to get to Rostov, and some lady explained to us like 5 times that we were there 5 hours early, and I still don't know why she kept saying the same thing. We told every time that we were just going to wait, haha, maybe she was actually saying something different and I just didn't understand! It all worked out though, and the Miners (my mission president and his wife) met us at the airport in Rostov. We went back and ate some dinner at the mission home and they told me my companion would be Elder Dayton and we'd be serving in Stavropol!  We had an orientation the next day until about 4 and then we just went street contacting. I can pick out some words here and there, but for the most part it's just really hard to understand the accent right now. It's getting easier every day though! We ended up getting a referal for the missionaries over there and had a couple of nice conversations with people! 

The next day we went to Stavropol with the Miners and we had a branch party because they were there. Our branch is super awesome! There's only about 13 members, but all of them are so strong! It's awesome being here with them, I wish you could all meet them because they're seriously just so cool! We've been doing a lot of street teaching here, that's pretty much all we've done because we haven't had a whole lot of lessons scheduled. We got 3 referals yesterday that all seemed really interested in meeting with us again and learning some more! It's so exciting being here serving these people. I have so much love for them already, and am excited to get back out tonight at 6 to get back to work. That's pretty much it for updates on my end! 

I'll just share a scripture I was reading earlier this morning that really meant a lot to me. It's actually pretty much the entire chapter of Alma 26. Something we did with one of our teachers the last day at the MTC was read this chapter, but replace the word Zarahemla with America, and the Lamanites with the Russians. It just talks about the commitment they have to the work, and how the whole purpose of all they were doing was just to bring even a small number of them to a knowledge of the truth. I don't have my scriptures with me so I can't give you an exact scripture reference, so you'll just have to read the chapter yourself to get something more out of it! I'm so grateful to be a part of this great work, it really is a privilege. The Lord could do all of this on his own, and he could do it perfectly. But he lets us, the imperfect, carry out his work, and bring others to the knowledge of his perfect plan. I love you all strongly, and pray about you daily! I hope all is well, and continues to go that way!

Until next time,

-Старейшина кэмптон

(Staryeshina Kempton)

                                          With his new companion, Elder Dayton, and President Miner
                                           in Stavropol, Russia

                                         At the mission home in Rostov right after arriving from their

                                         2-day trip to get there from Provo!

Next Stop...RUSSIA!!!

Здравствуйте!

У Меня есть лета документи! (I'm not sure how to say flight plans in Russian, but that's supposed to say... I have flight plans!) We finally got our travel itineraries this week, and I'm seriously so excited! We're going from here to JFK, where we have an 8 hour layover, and then to Moscow, which is a crazy long flight. We seriously have an 11 hour layover in the Moscow airport, which should be pretty awesome! We have to run to the embassy and do something there, but other than that I'm just planning on talking to all sorts of different people! It's gonna be so awesome! It doesn't feel like 9 weeks has passed, it seems like it was seriously last week that I had to say goodbye to all of you and come into the MTC, and now I'm already leaving! It's so exciting though! I feel so blessed to be able to go and serve those people! 

This week has been sort of weird, half of our district left last week, so we only had five people in our classes. Even though we were lacking in people, it was still a really awesome experience! We've been listening to conference talks in class this week and translating what they're saying to English, and I'm pretty sure the people that do the voice-overs for conference play a game called "Let's see how fast we can talk". Haha, it seriously sounds like they put the video on fast-forward. It's surprising how much we understand though! I've learned so many new cool words from that though, like умопомрачителный (Oom-uh-pom-ruh-cheat-el-nee, haha, that's the closest I can get with English letters). When you break it down it literally translates to "Mind darkeningly good," which is basically like saying so great that it literally blows your mind. And then the word сногшибателный (Snog-she-bottle-nee) means feet-sweepingly good according to one of my teachers! So now I don't have to respond with the same two words every time somebody asks me how I'm doing! 

This week has been pretty average, just like usual, study, eat, and sleep! We had a pretty cool devotional this Tuesday though, I can't remember the name of the person who spoke, but he gave a really good talk full of so many awesome thoughts! One that particularly struck me was that fear shouldn't exist in this gospel. If we have faith in Christ and his abilities to guide us, there really is no place for fear. There's no reason we should hesitate to follow promptings, or simply open our mouths, because when we act under the direction of the spirit, we are led down the path that Christ has prepared for us. He told us about a French poem that was translated into English. It went something like this, "A lone man was walking across a mountain path. Another man from a distance called to him saying, come to the edge. The man responded no, for I will fall. The other man called once more, and he responded again with no, for I will fall. The other man beckoned once more, "please, come to the edge". So he did, and he pushed him. And he flew." Sometimes it does not make a whole lot of sense to us, why we have been asked to do something by the Lord. Occasionally, we are even justified in our fear. But when we recognize that the call to come closer was from Christ, and that he will not lead us astray, it is then we learn that we can fly. Please do not misunderstand the analogy here. There are many types of canyons in this life, most of which lead us to nothing but a fall, followed by pain and agony. These are not the types of cliffs we should be jumping off of. When we have the ability to recognize Christ calling to us in our lives though, asking us to take that next step, we need not fear, for through Him we can do all things. I love you all strongly, and pray for you daily. I hope all is well, and continues to stay that way.

Until next time,

-Старейшина кэмптон

(Staryeshina Kempton)

(FYI:  Because Dustin didn't really say when he leaves the MTC for Russia, I am just letting everyone know that he is leaving Tuesday evening, Mar 8th...he doesn't actually get to Rostov until Thursday evening, Mar 10th!  It's going to be a long few days for him, but as you can tell from his letter, it can't come soon enough!  Next time we hear from him he will be in RUSSIA!!!  So excited for him!)

8 weeks down!

Здравствуйте! (Hello)

Hey everyone! This week has gone by so fast here, it's crazy that it's already p-day again! This letter might be a little bit shorter this week, I'm a little bit sick right now and I'm going to try and get back to my residence hall as soon as possible so I can get a little bit of rest. This week has been super awesome though! Four of the people in our district are headed off to their respective missions this Sunday, so it's been a bit of a weird week knowing they'll be gone so soon! It's seriously been so spiritual though, it's insane. Every Tuesday we have a devotional and a general authority speaks to us every week. This Tuesday we had the opportunity to hear from Sister Wixom, and she had some really awesome comments on the atonement and how we should be using it. After the devotional, we meet together as a district and discuss the impressions we had and the things we learned from it. After being here for 8 weeks, I've begun to understand exactly what the Book of Mormon is talking about when it says things like "and the ground shook, and their frames trembled". As we went around sharing our testimonies, the spirit bore powerful testimony that the words which were being spoken were true, and there is nothing we can do to deny it. And the ground shook, and my frame trembled. Obviously there is a possibility that when those prophets were speaking, the Lord caused the ground to quake from beneath them or caused their bodies to begin shaking, but I think it was much less literal than that. When the spirit speaks to us, and when we are truly listening, the same thing will happen within ourselves, so that we might know beyond any shadow of a doubt that what we are hearing is true, and that what we are feeling is of God. That room, #303, in building 4M on the MTC campus is sacred to me, and I hold it very dear to my heart. It's there that over the past couple of months the Lord has helped me grow, and has helped me become something that I never could have been before. 

You all are probably pretty familiar with the song "Come thou fount", but I've really been thinking a lot about those lyrics throughout this week. In the second verse it says "Here I raise my Eben-Ezer, hither by thy help I've come", and I've never really put a whole lot of thought into those words. I heard Eben-ezer and I sort of just thought it was talking about scrooge or something, and never really put a whole lot of thought into it. This week though, I was reading out of the book of Samuel in the Old Testament and I came across the same word in Chapter 7. The Philistine armies have once more surrounded the armies of Israel, in a place called Mizpeh, the site of two previous Israelite defeats. Samuel, in desperation, offers up a sacrifice unto the Lord, crying unto the Lord of Israel that they might be preserved, "and the Lord heard him". The Israelites by some miracle manage to defeat the armies of the Philistines. Immediately following this, Samuel lifts up a stone and "sets it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." The word Eben-ezer, literally translated means "stone of help". I've been thinking a lot about this throughout the week. It's forced me to ask what I am doing in order to thank the Lord for all the help that he has given me, what is my Eben-ezer? The Lord is there for us. He will never forget us, He will never forsake us. He is waiting for us to cry out unto Him for help, so that he might save us. I know the Lord lives. I know that he suffered and died for us, and that He knows me personally. I have felt His hand reach down and lift me up, time after time after time. I love you all strongly, and I pray for you daily. I hope all is well, and that it will continue to go well.

Until next time,

-Старейшина кэмптон

(Staryeshina (Elder) Kempton)

Week 7

Здравствуйте!

Hey everyone! I think it's officially day 50 here in the MTC, which is absolutely insane to think about! It seriously has gone so fast, and I'll be leaving in something like 18 days, March 8th seems so much closer than it did when I got here, haha, I guess that's how time works! I got a message from my mission president today about instructions at couple of airports we'll be at and it seriously is getting me so excited to head out! 

It's been a pretty awesome week here! This Sunday everyone from the other district left, so we reorganized all of the leadership, so now Elder Kramer and myself are the zone leaders here! It's been super awesome so far! A new district came in last night, so we got to have an orientation with them where we toured the campus and had a short devotional. We read them this poem called "Who are you boy". It was written by a Russian convert sometime around 2000, and it's just a really good reminder of why we're going out to serve and the immense change we can have on the lives of the people in Russia. I'm not sure how easy it would be to find, but if you can it's super awesome! Also, for our devotional this week we got to hear from Elder Rasband from the quorum of the twelve! It was such a humbling experience to hear from him. He talked about the divine nature of our call as missionaries. He gave a talk about the same topic some time ago, and he expounded more upon the process he goes through as he calls missionaries. He said he checked before hand, and there was a large number of missionaries in the audience that night, that he had personally assigned to their individual missions. I again have received a confirmation that Rostov is exactly where the Lord needs me at this time, and I am so excited to get over there and help those people! 

Last week I told you all about Vika, and the issues her parent's had with the church. This week was basically a 180. She fasted and prayed that her parent's hearts would be softened, and that she would be able to receive permission for baptism. When we met with her this week she told us about how much her parent's had changed over the course of just a few days, and that she would most likely receive permission! We're set on a tentative baptismal date for this Saturday, which makes me so happy! It's so awesome to see the change this gospel has on people's lives! The language is really coming along this week. In lessons now its more of a conversation than it is me hanging on every single word trying to understand exactly what they are saying. It's sort of strange, it sounds so familiar now and I feel like I just know what they're saying when they speak. Obviously they're speaking at a much lower level so we can understand, but it gives me hope that I'll be able to be only somewhat confused when I get in country! That's pretty much it for this week, everything else is pretty much the same! 

I'll just leave you all with a spiritual thought. I've been reading a lot in Psalms lately. It's seriously just full of awesome pick me up verses, most of which can be attributed to King David. I've done a little bit of reading about his life today to get a better feel for what all of those verses he wrote actually mean. David was such an awesome guy, I feel like there's so much we can learn from him. A lot of times we look at his encounter with Bath-sheba, and the murder of Uriah, and we discuss how even those with solid foundations can fall. After that experience though, David goes through a fairly extensive repentance process, but even though he does this, the last 20 years of his life were pretty miserable as a direct consequence of his actions. The thing that's incredible to me though is that despite the family feuds and open rebellion that plagued his personal life, he still attributed all that he had to God. This is evident in almost every single Psalm that he wrote. In Psalms 13 he says, similar to Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail, "How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?" He then goes on to say, "But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me." Sometimes we, like David, feel as if God has altogether left our presence our forgotten us. This is not the case. It has never been the case, and it never will be. God and Jesus Christ are not hiding from us. Even though we are inevitably bound to face some form of trial or hardship in our lives, some greater than others, remember that Christ is always there to help you through it. He has descended below all, so that all may be brought back from those lows. When the repentant soul cries out, as Peter, "O Lord, Save me!" he will immediately stretch forth his hand and raise them up. Christ's atonement is real, and it is there to be used and called on daily. I know that is true. I see it in my life and the lives of everyone around me every single day. I love you all strongly, and pray for and think about you often.

Until next time,

-Старейшина кэмптон

(Staryeshina Kempton)

Week 6

Здравствуйте (Hello)!

How's it going everyone?! Another week down here at the MTC. This is probably going to be a shorter email, nothing really ever happens here so there's not all that much to talk about! 

A few somewhat exciting things are happening though that let me know my time here at the MTC is starting to draw to a close! This past Thursday was our last in-person TRC! For those that don't know, TRC is basically where we practice teaching lessons to members of the church, so it's mostly just return missionaries that speak our mission language! It's been such a cool experience teaching those lessons, honestly some of the most spiritual experiences happen when we get to talking with those guys! We had one member that we somehow managed to teach 3 or 4 times, and it was super awesome getting to know him over the course of the past few weeks! 

Even more exciting though is that we get to start Skyping with native Russian speakers! We had our first one this week, and it was so cool, she was a babooshka that lived in a small town just outside of Samara! Native's speak so much faster than our teacher's here at the MTC do, it's seriously insane. We were able to understand for the most part what she was saying, but it was still crazy difficult to focus and pick out the words that we knew. It also didn't help that there were about 5 other conversations going on in the room we were in at the same time! It was still super good though, they're super nice and super understanding of where we're at with the language! I'm so pumped to go back next week, it's seriously the best! 

This Sunday was actually pretty awesome too, Jenny Oaks Baker came and performed for our Sunday night fire-side. She's a crazy-good violinist, and all of her kids are super talented as well. It was just all around a really uplifting experience, music brings the spirit so quickly! 

Our investigators have been making so much progress up until this week. On Tuesday, Vika told us that her parents that our church was an American cult, and that if she gets baptized that she's basically going to be disowned. This would pretty much leave her without any support, and no money to pay for college. It's truly humbling to see her faith though. She wants to be baptized so badly, and has a testimony that all of this is true. It's just hard to see people struggle as a result of a message that you are sharing with them. She's still on track to be baptized as of right now, but it'll definitely be a trial for her and require a lot of trust that God will help her figure out the rest. That's pretty much been my week here, outside of the normal study routine. We still learn so much every day here, and I feel like the more I learn about the Russian language, the more I realize how horrible my grammar is when I speak. 

I'll just leave you with a scripture that's meant a lot to me this week. There are a lot of times when I don't feel adequate to carry out this work, after all I'm only 18 years old, and have only been speaking Russian for about a month. I sometimes feel as Enoch felt after God called him to be a prophet. In Moses 6:31 it says, "And when Enoch had heard these words, he bowed himself to the earth, before the Lord, and spake before the Lord, saying: Why is it that I have found favor in the sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant? And the Lord said unto Enoch: Go forth and do as I have commanded thee, and no man shall pierce thee. Open thy mouth, and it shall be filled, and I will give the utterance, for all flesh is in my hands, and I will do as seemeth me good" So Enoch forgets himself and goes to work. He preaches unto the people with power beyond our comprehension. 

In Moses 7 it goes on to say that "so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them; and he spake the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command; and the rivers of water were turned out of their course; and the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness; and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him." If we can have even a fraction of that faith as we go about doing the work of God, the Lord will give us power to perform miracles as Enoch performed miracles. We will be given power to do as those prophets in the Book of Mormon did, and astonish those that we teach, to bring to pass this work which we have called to perform. I love you all strongly, and hope all is well at home.

Until next time,

-Старейшина кэмптон

(Staryeshina (Elder) Kempton)

(Dustin says when you say 'I love you' in Russian you are saying 'I love you strongly' so that's how he is going to say it from now on!)

                                        Elder Powell, TRC Golling & Elder Kempton

Week 5

Здравствуйте! (Hello)

It's been another awesome week here at the MTC. I feel like there's less and less to write home about because it's all the same every day, haha! A couple funny things have happened this week though, and that helps the days go by a little bit faster. We do a service project every week here at the MTC, and the past few weeks we've been helping out in the kitchen, just doing some basic restocking and cleaning. This Saturday though me and my companion got put on ice cream duty, probably to prep us for the temperatures we're going to be living in when we get to Russia! Just to give you an idea of how cold the ice cream freezer is, they have a walk in freezer where they store a lot of their food, and the ice cream freezer is a separate walk in freezer inside of that one. It's somewhere around -7 in there, and we had to unload a huge cart of ice cream. While we were in there my companion bumped his leg on something, and the ID card in his pocket literally snapped in half because it had frozen. It was super funny when it happened, but now that I'm typing it, it seems like it's a super lame story! It's the little things that keep you going here I guess! 

We got our Russian name tags this week too! We weren't due to get them for around another week or two, but one of our teachers is the guy in charge of ordering them, so he decided to get them to us a little bit early! It was seriously one of the most exciting days we've had in a while! They look so cool, haha, I'll send home a few pictures of them just so you can get an idea of what I'm saying! It's crazy to think that I've been here for 5 weeks already, it seriously feels like it was just yesterday that I was walking onto this campus for the first time, not knowing what was going to happen next! It's still so cool being here though! We teach our investigators almost every day, and it's been so awesome getting to watch their faith grow as they come closer to Christ. We've finished teaching all of the lessons to one of our investigators, Vika, and are planning on moving up her baptismal date to next Saturday! 

Every day here is so spiritual, I feel like I receive so many answers and insights, but then I forget to write them down and they fade. One in particular though that really hit home with me this week was in the book of Ether. The whole book of Ether is full of super awesome verses, and it just tells a really cool story all around. Some of my favorite lines of scripture this past week have come from the 6th chapter. The Jaredites have embarked on their journey across the ocean to the promised land, in their vessels that were "tight like unto a dish". As they were thus traveling, the Lord caused a great wind to blow upon the sea, to assist them in their crossing of the ocean. The waves quickly grew larger and larger, driving them back and forth in what I imagine was probably one of the most uncomfortable boat rides ever. In verses 6 and 7 it says, "And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind. And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters". Many times in life we will be as the Jaredites. We are all on the water right now.  We have left our home, our place of comfort with our Father in Heaven before this life. There will be times when the mountainous waves of life drive us deep into the depths of the sea. When we are thus driven below the surface, we need to be sure that our vessels, like the Jaredites', are tight like unto a dish, so that the water will have no power over us. I know too, that if we call unto our Father in the depths of our seas, his hand will never cease to reach down, and bring us back to the surface, for he has descended deeper than any of us ever will. I know this to be true. I have felt the guiding hand of Christ in my life, and he has never, not even once, failed to bring me back up. I love you all, and hope you are all doing well.

Until next time,

-Старейшина кэмптон

(Staryeshina Kempton)

Elder Kempton