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
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
No comments:
Post a Comment