Are you reading the Book of Mormon?

Dear Family:

Tell Becky Anderson that her words really helped me.  It was something I needed just at this moment.

Tell President Pendelton Привет! (Pree-vyet) That is hello in Russian. I miss him, and he was one of my favorite seminary teachers. I hope to see him when I return.

I give a big hello from Finland. Meaning, I am back from Finland, but it says hello. What a week this has been. I found out that all of the elders here in Barnaul are staying here, and I am still disctrict leader. We must be doing something right, and we need to stay together. I am grateful to still be in a position of leadership, in order to help this work go forward.

President Gibbons, at last minute, decided to come to Barnaul, and sit in a branch council meeting, and interview the branch president, and see the new branch building. (We hope that the building will be finished before the end of this next transfer) It really freaked me out, because I was with Elder Smith on splits, and I left my phone with the other companionship.  I get a call from Elder Duncan, saying that President Gibbons was texting me. When the mission president contacts you, it is either something REALLY good or REALLY bad. Fortunately, it was good, and I had to inform the branch president about all that would be going on.

 It was a very special time at the temple. Members from St. Petersburg were there, and I got to perform an endowment in Russian. Talking to these members in the temple, I just felt such love for the people, and such gratitude for the sacred covenants we make in the temple. They give us a power that no other force on earth can give. I can't explain
it, but there is power in these covenants. God is behind us, because we made this sacred promise with Him, and with Him there is power.

It has been hard to read the Book of Mormon in Russian, but I am right on track to finish it this month. Are you all reading the Book of Mormon, too? I love that book, and reading it in another language has given me even more insight than I ever thought possible. Do you know that Christ is the Law? Read it in 3 Nephi. That means that Christ is
just, as well as God. They work by laws, and that everything is dependant on a law. If we want blessings, we need to follow the laws, or commandments. When we make a covenant with him through baptism, we are protected by Law that we will be blessed.

When President Gibbons came to Barnaul, it was very special to me. He never uses a translator for his talks, despite the challenges. He is such an example to me. He spoke how special this city is, and I believe him. There is a lot of wonderful things in this city, and wonderful people. I hope that I can add something good to this city, and I get another chance to do that.

I love you all, and I pray for you. I pray that the Spirit wil be with all of us. God Lives. Jesus Christ Lives. Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. Through the power of God, Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. It is literally the word of God. The Church of Jesus Christ has been restored. Families can be together forever. These things, I know.
Love,

Elder Hoggan
The Siberian Messenger

I challenge you all to read the Book of Mormon with me.

So that is their names! I have been wondering about the Hamiltons, and been praying for them. I just couldn't remember their names. Could you send a message to them from Elder Hoggan, that he has been praying for them, and that he misses them? I am not sure if they remember me, but I remember them, and how I got to play the piano for their baptism. I still remember the first time the husband blessed the sacrament, and how special it was. I didn't fully realize HOW special it was until I got here on a mission. Please share this with them, and my testimony that I know with all my heart that this gospel is true, and that families can be sealed for time and all eternity. I desire the same blessings for them, and I will be praying for them.

Dear Family

What an interesting week! The weather is ever changing, and you can never know if you are going to be sweating in a short-sleeved shirt, or shivering in a coat. It makes me miss winter, where at least you knew that it will be cold every day. The days are getting brighter, and the sun shines about 4 in the morning. At least it FEELS like four in the morning. We had to put a towels over the window, so that we could get enough sleep, and not be woken up so early.
It is visa trip this Thursday, and we are flying from Barnaul to Moscow, and then to Finland, yet again! What makes me so excited this time, is that we will be able to go to the temple. I so miss the temple, and the peaceful feeling inside. I promise to go every chance I get to when I am home. I might even try every single day, so that I can always have those blessings in my life.

I am not sure about transfers yet. We haven't heard yet. I hope to stay in Barnaul. I have fallen in love with Barnaul, as I have in every single city I have served in. I think about when I was about to leave the MTC, and I already felt a love for the people, a people I had never even met! Now I see that being true. These people are amazing, and I love talking to them, and teaching them. I feel like I am home here, like I could have been born in Russia. For culture night, we went to this museum night. Every year, they have a museum night, where you can visit all the museums in the city with one ticket, and it goes on all night. Of course we didn't stay for the whole thing, but we saw some really cool things. My favorite was some dancers and singers. I hope to send you a video clip I made of them singing and dancing. it was packed there, and we almost had to push people out of the way. Then there was this guy playing the Balalaika. I am still searching for a Balalaika, Michael, and I expect you to play it just like that guy. It was crazy. At one point he played it with only one hand! I don't know how that is possible. I got a video clip of that as well. I will try to send it.

For a finding activity, we planned to have a group lesson, like we did in Novokuznetsk. It was successful there, but not so much here. A lot of members came to it, but none of our contacts came, and no one brought a friend there. We hope to try it again, but we asked the members to bring someone, be it a friend or family member to come and see. Actually, one contact, Ilia, came later to our lesson. We tried teaching him once, but it didn't work out, and then we invited him to family home evening, and he came, and had a great time. We are meeting with him today, hopefully. He is a cool guy, about 19 years old. We are also going to be starting English again, in about a month. The changes have been made to the program, and it is awesome. The area presidency was even amazed, and want to use the same program everywhere in that area. That is how cool our mission is. We made some amazing changes.

So you had stake conference, we had Zone conference. President Gibbons is such a spiritual man, I have no doubts that he is called of God to be the mission president. I can feel his Spirit, and his love. Just being near him gives me the desire to be better, to make him proud. I have never met such a person that has that kind of powerful love. He read a verse in D&C 121:33. "How long will rolling waters remain impure?" These are the waters of personal revelation, and they should be flowing pure and crystal. Why wouldn't they? Could sin be polluting them? Is there anger, or fear, or resentment, obstructing the flow? In missionary work, revelation is key. Without it, no one would be converted to the Gospel. Joseph Smith himself said that revelation is the key to salvation. We cannot be saved without revelation, both from prophets and individual revelation. What is the greatest challenge, is to constantly clean our fountains of water of pollutants, through repentance, in order so that revelation can flow freely. (That reminds me, could you send me some more music? Rob Gardner has a bunch of CD's, such as He is Jesus Christ, and Joseph Smith the Prophet and I would love to have them. Could you just send me the songs via email? It would be quicker and cheaper.) Then President Gibbons gave each of us a precious gift. The Book of Mormon has been retranslated in the Russian Language, and now is available in a triple combination. President Gibbons gave each of us a leather-bound copy of the new Book of Mormon in Russian. I cradled that book carefully in my hands, and felt the power of the words found inside it. This gift is the most precious ever. I have a goal to read the Russian Book of Mormon 12 times before I go home, once a month, and I read it every day. I feel my faith growing, and my understanding of the Gospel strengthen every single time I open that book. I know without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true. I love it with all my heart.

My challenge to all of you is to read the Book of Mormon with me. I have to read about 20 pages every day, in a foreign language, to read it in about a month. I have to find time during lunch, breakfast, before we sleep, and throughout the day in order to read the needed 20 pages. I don't say read it in a month, but reread it. When you are done, reread it again. You can never read the Book of Mormon without getting some new insight in it. I know this gospel is true. It has changed my heart, and it will change the hearts of all who apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ in their lives. He lives. His church has been restored. I know that with no doubt.

I love you all, and I pray for you all.
Elder Hoggan (The Siberian Messenger)

Happy Mother's Day Skype

Dear family, and other loved ones:

It was so wonderful to see all of you! I love you all, and I hope for your health, safety, and happiness. I especially want to give a shout out to Sarah Barrett, and I can't wait to see the little girl. (I told you that I like the Russian name Tatiana, or Tanya for short, right?) So, mom probably has written down all things that I said yesterday on my blog, but there might be some that I didn't say before. Let's see... We helped a sister move into another apartment, and it was really fun. There were so many people, and it was awesome to see all the support. There was about 14 people there, and it took about two hours to take all the stuff out of the apartment, and then put it in the truck, and then put in the new apartment. It was awesome.

The next service project that we did, we cleaned up all the dead plants in this park area near the new branch building, and it was so wonderful. Many people asked me, "Where did you get such strength to pull up weeds and trim branches?" I guess it was thanks to a wonderful Dad, who made me to work in the garden all the time, even when I hated it. Thanks Dad! It was so much fun, and the pile of plants was huge! Afterwards, we actually got to go on a tour of the new branch building, which hopefully will be done in a month. I wish I took pictures. It is going to look better than the church buildings there in Utah!

So on the 9th of May, if you read my email about a year ago, is Victory Day, or  День Победы (Dyen Pah-bed-ee) It is when Germany surrendered. This is a big holiday, and usually missionaries weren't allowed to go out in public. Not this year! President Gibbons told us that we should still do missionary work, but we weren't allowed to go to any city centers or parades, which was sad, but sensible. We went outside and talked to a lot of people. Where we were, there were few people, and all the stores were forbidden to sell any alcohol. They really wanted to make sure everything was under control and family friendly. So there were no scary incidents. It was just a usual day for the life of a missionary.
So on Sunday, none of our investigators came to church, Zina was sick, and Tanya and Alekcei couldn't make it. All of our meetings fell through. I have to ask those who served missions. Was that common? Would you set up a meeting with someone, and then try to follow up the next day, and they wouldn't answer the phone? I would like to hear the responses, and the things you would do when that happened.

We tried setting up meetings with others, but with no such luck. We went outside, and just waited to see where the Lord would take us. We ended up in an apartment complex, tried talking to people, nothing. Then we tried trakting an apartment building, nothing. Then we were about to leave, and then we went back, and saw these people moving. We went over to help, and they were amazed that Americans would come to help for nothing at all. We struck a friendship as we helped them move, and they tried to pay us, but we refused. We gave brochures, and they even tried to pay for them as well. We just planted some good seeds, and I hope that they will be willing to meet with missionaries, when they remember that they had some random help from them.

I love you all, and I pray for you. I pray that all will be well (Mom, tell Bishop Bell and his family that I am thinking about them, and I am praying for them. Bishop Bell is an amazing Bishop. Tell him that from me.)
Elder Hoggan The Siberian Messenger

I just realized that Andrei Kirilenko is Russian!

Well, hello my lovely family!

(Just so you know, mom, I don't know how well the Skype will work out. The Holmes said that skype on their computer shuts down if they use video. We asked the branch secretary about using it, and the internet isn't working there either. We will figure something out, and it will definitely be on that date.) The weather here has been crazy! Just a few days ago, we were walking around in short-sleeved shirts, and today, we are wearing suits and coats! What is the weather like in Utah? It has been so long that I totally forgot what it was like. Please tell me.

Also, I was sort of hoping that you were planning to go to England with me as like a coming home present, since we went to Yellowstone before Andrew left on his mission, Mexico before Michael left, and we didn't even go to Chuck E. Cheese before I left. (I hope that gets a good laugh) Whatever. I'm here in Russia, and that beats all of the rest, including Chuck E. Cheese.

What interesting things have we done this week? Well, there was a huge windstorm that blew down a fence nearby the apartment we live. It made me think when our fence broke from the mudslide, and we thought it was a tornado. We came back that evening, and people were already fixing it back up.

We have had a lot of interesting conversations with people on the street. Whenever we ask people if they are religious, or if they believe in God, 95% of people say yes, because they were baptized in the Orthodox church, and they show the cross they wear. Then I usually say one of two things: "How did you know for yourself that God lives?", or "What does baptism mean to you?" This really takes people off guard. With the first question, they usually tell about how their grandma went to church, (They always say Бабушка--Babooshka to mean their grandmother, or just any old lady on the street. It's almost like another race of people.) or that they were taught to read the Bible. I still haven't heard someone give a specific moment as to how they knew God to live, or that the Bible is the word of God. Then it opens up to a testimony how I came to know. I know, because I prayed to God about it. I specifically asked whether or not this gospel is true, and I received a specific answer that it is indeed true. The next question, "What does baptism mean to you?", proves a similar point. Some people really don't know what it means, just that it is necessary. One of our investigators, Andrei, even said he didn't know what it meant to him. Then I say how baptism is a very sacred and wonderful ordinance that we covenant with God to follow his commandments, always be representatives of Jesus Christ, or be examples of Him, always remember what Christ did for us, and then God promises that His Spirit, or the Holy Ghost will be with us always. To guide, direct, and comfort us. People are really taken aback, and it really strikes true to them. That is one thing that I have really come to know about this gospel which we share. We just don't say these things because they are good, but we know them to be true. We KNOW them to be true. It is a knowledge obtained by faith, and once we receive that answer from God, we then know for ourselves. One man said that maybe what I said was true, but I said "I know it to be true, because I prayed to Heavenly Father about it, and He gave me the answer that it is true." No one can deny that sort of testimony. Well, we also had a meeting with our investigator, Andrei, and we talked about the Plan of Salvation. He actually said that he agreed with some of the parts, but he wasn't sure if he believed the rest. He believed that there was life after death, but he didn't really know what would be. We asked him to read the Book of Mormon, and then pray to God if it is true. He said that he might. Then we met with a recent convert Dasha. We talked about commandments and why we follow them.  I made this comparison on the spot. Say that there are two books on a table, and I read one. I only focus on reading one, even if I want to read the other one. It is like focusing on work, school, or something. It may be a wonderful thing that helps a lot, but without picking up the other book (maybe it is the scriptures) We cannot grow in knowledge. We are stuck, because we depleted our choices. That is like with addictions. We are stuck reading one book, and we can't read another. Another meeting we had was with Igor. He is a really nice man that works in the guard shack in the parking lot of the apartment complex that the Holmes live in. One time, he stops us and asks us what we are doing. He sees us so many times, he was curious. We told him we were missionaries, and that we wanted to talk to him about the restored gospel. So later in the week, we met with him again, and shared more about the restoration. We haven't met with him more recently, but I really hope we can. It reminds me when I was serving in Novosibirsk and teaching Pavel in the apartment, sitting on the floor on old pieces of wallpaper. You teach people in the most interesting of places. Today, we actually did some service, as one of the members was moving to a new apartment. A good number of members came, and it took us about two hours to move from one apartment to the other. It was really good, and we are going to clean around the new branch building tomorrow for service. We hope to move to the new building in the middle of June. Another man we talked to actually watches the Jazz, and he loves them! He was interested when we said we were from Utah. I had never heard anyone hear talk about the Utah Jazz, and I just realized that Andrei Kirilenko is Russian...I can't believe I didn't get that. I just am really happy to be a missionary. There are no greater blessings in life that serving God, and this is just another time to show my gratitude to him for all that He has done for me.
I love you all, and hope to see you on Mother's Day!
Elder Hoggan (The Siberian Messenger)

I just love you all!

Congratulations to Michael and Rachelle

Dear Family, How I love you all!
First of all, Поздравлаю! (Poz-dra-vlay-you) That means
Congratulations in Russian. I am so proud of you, Michael and Rachelle for making this sacred covenant with the Lord. I know that it was the right decision, and many will be blessed for your decision. Just these last few weeks I have been thinking about the Plan of Salvation, and how it is taking place in our lives right now. These three stages in life are so critical, birth, marriage, and death. All of them are so necessary in the plan of Heavenly Father. Just hearing the news of these things has strengthened my testimony of this great plan of happiness. We were born here, to receive a body, be tested, and show our faithfulness to Heavenly Father. We receive the ordinances of salvation to bind us to our loved ones for eternity. Death is just a stage, so that we can be resurrected and return to live with our Heavenly Father, and with our families. I am so grateful for the saving ordinances of the temple. I know that this new spirit is an eternal part of our family, being born in the covenant. My brother's wife is now part of it as well, making that sacred sealing covenant. I know that my uncle is not lost. He is still part of this family. I am not sad, but so grateful for Heavenly Father's mercy and love to us.

This last week, we have talked to a lot of people of the muslim faith. These people come from places like Kazhakstan, and Ajer Baijan (The last one I have no idea how to spell, or even where it is.) They are very nice, and I really respect their beliefs. They are really devout to being faithful, making right choices, and serving to others. They believe in the Holy Ghost, which I never knew, and they also believe in the Bible. If I understood correctly, the Koran is the bible with writings added by Muhammad. It is definitely true that every single person has a piece of truth in them, and we hope to acknowledge that truth they have, and then expound and add even further, so that their truth becomes even more, to becoming full.

One man, who we met with, did not believe that we were Christians, because we don't celebrate Christian holidays. There are a lot of holidays in the Orthodox faith, and on that particular day, it is when the people pay their respects to their deceased ancestors. He said it was our biggest mistake. We just testified that we knew this gospel is true, that it his His church. He was a little taken aback by our testimonies, but wasn't willing to meet again, and he left. It just shows that no one can deny a testimony given in the Spirit. I have talked to a lot of people, asking how they knew it was true, and they say that their grandma believed, or they were taught to read the Bible when they were young. That is wonderful, but I could never get a concrete answer how they knew it was true. I would always testify that I prayed to God, and asked if it was true, and he would answer. That is the beauty of our message. We help others know from God, for themselves, that the Gospel is true. We can't prove anything, but God will prove it, because He loves us.

We met with a man named Andre, who came to English a couple times. He speaks very good English, and we talked about the restoration. He made a report about our faith for a class, and his girlfriend studying in Arizona met some members of the church who actually served in Barnaul! He said that maybe it was a sign. He has faith in prayer, and that they can be answered. He also talked about how every religion reads the Bible differently. We explained the Apostacy, and about the Book of Mormon. When I showed the book, he asked if he could see it, and we happily gave him the book. He wants to meet again, and we plan to teach him the Plan of Salvation. He believes that man was here to perfect himself, gain knowledge, which is exactly what we believe.

The branch had a branch family home evening, and the Branch President's wife made this movie about family history, and the blessings of it. It was very well done, and everyone loved it. This was a sign to us that we need to use family history as a finding activity. It is a perfect tool to teach people how to use family history, and the reasons we do it. It was spiritual, and informative. I was very impressed, and we hope to use this tool to find new people to teach about the church, and why we do family history. The end of branch family home evening was a talent portion, and all the missionaries sang Army of Helaman in Russian. The members liked it so much, they demanded us to sing it for sacrament meeting the next day. Everyone loved it, and it was really fun to sing. Being out over a year, it is amazing what I understand now, and what I didn't understand when I came here at the very beginning. The gift of tongues is literally a gift from God, and it has helped me strengthen my testimony that this gospel is true.

I love you all, and I pray for you. I know you pray for me. This gospel is so true. I am so grateful for the blessings that I receive every day thanks to the fact that I am a member of The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is truly His church, again restored upon the earth.

To Michael and Rachelle, I love you, and I congratulate you! Cherish each other, and I know that God will bless you. It is weird, now that I am the only bachelor in the family. Well, I still have a little less
than a year to worry about that.
I love you all!

Elder Hoggan, The Siberian Messenger

P.S. We will be skyping on the 13th of May here about 6:30 in the morning, so I don't know exactly when that will be in your neck of the woods.