HEY!
Crazy Week! I don't even remember what we
did at the beginning and middle of the week, but we have been running since
Friday.
-Went on the wrong bus when we were late to the
game night we were hosting already and led us to a stop a ridiculous distance
away and it was raining and we had all our luggage for our week trip, but we
had to run hard to try to set up to our game night that we ended up being way
late too
-Left early from game night to go to the train
station to leave to Astrahan. That overnight train took 12 hours to get there
-Read last paragraph to know how that trip went,
but it was crazy! We went there to run church on Sunday because the BP left on
a temple trip. I was running back in forth from playing hymns, to prayer, to
passing the sacrament, to talk, to lesson. It was fun.
-We had to stay in the little branch building on
the 2nd floor of an office building on the tile floor and i also left my
blanket in the train so all I had was my sweater as a pillow, good times good
times... And at 10:20pm someone started knocking at the door and we probably
weren't supposed to be there so we said a prayer and right when I was about to
open the door and woman opened it from the other side and gave a scream and a 4
foot jump, but I was just relieved it was a nice lady, she said we could stay
for the night but was locking up the building.
-A guy walked into to the building during church
when I was on the podium and was like "HELLO EVERYONE" all loud, and
said that he thought it started at 11 but we told him that we already started
and he was welcome to sit down, but he just left. None of the members knew who
he was...
-We got home late last night and early this
morning we got a call to help a member move. We got there and this guy’s
apartment was full of junk (literally trash that he found in the dumpster and
collected because some people do that here) that went waist high. It was one of
the most grim apartments I've seen, and I've seen some bad apartments. It was a
good time though. When we got there an old guy came up to us and with a growl
in his voice stated how he didn't like our faces. I thought I had gotten that
remark after plenty of dates from back home, but this guy thought he should
jump on that train of people who don't like my face too.
We had some good finding experiences this week.
Waiting at a stoplight I saw a brother from Africa and gave him a brother's
nod, he then acknowledged the nod with a nod in return, I then gave the shaking
of the head to let him know that we were cool, he did the same. So I then knew
I had the right of passage to move in. I moved in and was able to inquire the
number of my now dear friend. He also happened to be a friend of one of the
African members.
It was really evident how God had his hand in the work when we were in Astrahan this week, or more that God did everything and we just allowed him to move us freely. We have been going through the area books for Astrahan and calling members and old investigators every night this week so we could make the most out of the Lord's time and the money for train tickets. We got there Saturday morning and got straight to the church and had a lesson with Alex, a 28 bright investigator, he wanted to know how he could be baptized as he now finished the BOM and testified to us that he knew it was true. It was an amazing experience to meet with him. We then had 3 hours until our next lesson so we went around the city just trying to pick up conversations with people and ended up walking around having a great conversation with a man from Zambia and a man from Afghanistan, at first I don't think that the one from Afghanistan was to happy to hear we were from the US, but by the end of our walk he asked to take a picture with us, and was very glad to meet us. It was a great experience to be able to help this individual have a better view on the church and the US after our talk. It is amazing for me to see how people really are the same everywhere you go, and how we have a lot more in common than differences. We had a lesson with an old investigator from Morocco who spoke 5 languages. We had a meeting with him and invited him to read the BOM again; he was very impressed when we took out a BOM in every language he spoke! We had another meeting with someone who we called who agreed to meet with us, and he was very kind but not interested sadly. We then thought we’d give the branch a deep cleaning with the rest of our night. We were able to meet with a recent convert before church and met with another inactive after church and than met with 5 Africans , but they only spoke Portuguese, so one of them was able to translate for us. We were very busy and were able to do as much as we could and I feel that the Lord really did everything in having all those meeting go through, and we felt well satisfied with work.
It was really evident how God had his hand in the work when we were in Astrahan this week, or more that God did everything and we just allowed him to move us freely. We have been going through the area books for Astrahan and calling members and old investigators every night this week so we could make the most out of the Lord's time and the money for train tickets. We got there Saturday morning and got straight to the church and had a lesson with Alex, a 28 bright investigator, he wanted to know how he could be baptized as he now finished the BOM and testified to us that he knew it was true. It was an amazing experience to meet with him. We then had 3 hours until our next lesson so we went around the city just trying to pick up conversations with people and ended up walking around having a great conversation with a man from Zambia and a man from Afghanistan, at first I don't think that the one from Afghanistan was to happy to hear we were from the US, but by the end of our walk he asked to take a picture with us, and was very glad to meet us. It was a great experience to be able to help this individual have a better view on the church and the US after our talk. It is amazing for me to see how people really are the same everywhere you go, and how we have a lot more in common than differences. We had a lesson with an old investigator from Morocco who spoke 5 languages. We had a meeting with him and invited him to read the BOM again; he was very impressed when we took out a BOM in every language he spoke! We had another meeting with someone who we called who agreed to meet with us, and he was very kind but not interested sadly. We then thought we’d give the branch a deep cleaning with the rest of our night. We were able to meet with a recent convert before church and met with another inactive after church and than met with 5 Africans , but they only spoke Portuguese, so one of them was able to translate for us. We were very busy and were able to do as much as we could and I feel that the Lord really did everything in having all those meeting go through, and we felt well satisfied with work.
-Sorry, I got to go, some other jolly banter
happened this week, but I love you all.
Elder VanBuskirk
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