Pure Joy

Well this was really a crazy week.

 

Even yesterday was a crazy day.  Yesterday was V's baptism, I finished the book of Mormon in Russian and President called and told me next transfer.

 

This week was really stressful because after V's interview the next day he told us that he didn't think he was ready to be baptized. (Which was ridiculous because we talked it out with him and he was absolutely ready.)  I think what happened is that after like 5 months of waiting, permission was finally given and it just hit him, like whoa, its actually going to happen now.  So we met with him and talked it out, but he still wasn't confident.  Then the next day was awesome because his friend (the South Park guy who was baptized a little while ago) called us and said, "Hey, I set up a meeting with V tonight at six can you come? Haha it was great, we got the branch president to come too. We actually had another investigator meeting at 6, so I grabbed a member and taught that lesson, while Elder V, the friend and President Savin met with V. After that meeting V decided that he was ready and he was going to be baptized on Sunday.  So that morning came and everything went awesome! Everyone got there on time, a bunch of members came, the talks were great, everything was perfect.  Probably best of all is that his family came and they seemed to really enjoy it.  No, but for sure best of all was the look on his face after Elder Vargin pulled him out of the water.  It was like a physical change had already occurred in his countenance.  And there was just this smile of pure joy on his face, I'll remember that for a long time. 

 

Well after that, there was kind of an awkward hour between the baptism and sacrament meeting. So I was just sitting there talking to his babooshka, and I kinda ran out of stuff to talk about so I asked if she could help me read.  I happened to be already on the last chapter of the Book of Mormon, so I read out loud to her Moroni 10 and she corrected my mistakes, it was really cool, and I think she liked it too.  And that was how I finished the Book of Mormon in Russian, I started it all the way back in the MTC.  Next time around will be much faster.

 

So then after the church meetings we went with a member to give a blessing to a sick lady at her home.  As we were there President Gibbons called and told me my transfer.  It's really crazy. Actually I don't even know where to start.  Well... I'm going back to Novosibirsk, already.  That's right one and done in Tomsk.  I'm actually pretty sad about that, I really like it here.  I think people are overall friendlier here.  The building is amazing, and it's much easier to teach investigators in, the branch here is really receptive and helpful, so I'll miss it for sure.  And this has been my most fruitful area.  Well anyway, those are my thoughts about leaving, and here is what I'm heading into.  I was very surprised when President told me that I was going to Novosibirsk to be Assistant to the President with Elder Anderson.  In fact, I still don't even quite know what to think about that.  He said, "I knew I would have you here as an assistant but I didn't think it would be this soon."  It's a good thing that I strongly believe that President is an inspired man or else I would think he is crazy.  Well anyway, we'll see how it goes. Hopefully, language won't hold me back, like if I have to translate hard things for him or something.  I don't even really know what the AP's do now, so we'll see.  I am really excited to be with Elder Anderson, he seems awesome.  Well that's it. It's a lot to take in. It took me along time to get to sleep last night. But it's all good now.

To answer some questions:  Well, I think its pretty common to go to a barber shop, and the most common in the big city to go to the senior couples and have them do it (haircut).  But I bought a thing first transfer and I like my hair better like this anyway (especially when always wearing a hat so it doesn't get messed up.)  So as far as anything I'm craving -   I'm in no rush so take your time.  But peanut butter, Lawrey's season salt, and some taco seasoning would be really nice.  (No need to rush, I already have some of each of the seasonings, and peanut butter can be found).

Oh yeah, and about P-days. Last week the sisters cooked us a meal for "defenders of the fatherland day" its basically like a holiday for all men here in Russia.  Today we are having a birthday party for me because the sisters are being transfered early and won't be here next week.  I chose to have a Mexican themed party, in other words a "fiesta". We will eat burritos.

 

Elder Topham



This is about 20 minutes or so outside of the city, where we have a couple kinda investigators. It's very beautiful.



Strengthen Our Testimonies

Well this week was interesting.  Things seemed to have slowed down a little bit and we weren't able to get meetings like we were the last 2 weeks.  

V is doing really well and will be baptized Sunday morning, so we are very excited about that.  

I also had two really sad experiences this week.  First we met with our other really solid investigator and set a baptismal date with him.  It was a really good meeting and he seemed really excited and sincere.  But after that he stopped answering our calls and texted us and said that he didn't want to meet with us any more.  It was really sad.  Elder Vargin and I just looked at the phone and were dumbfounded for a second.  I'm not exactly sure what happened, but it is definitely evidence of the adversary working to try to stop the work of God from moving forward.  I think it very easily could have been something social. Maybe he told his family and they convinced him not to, or for some other reason he just got scared.  Anyway, there's not much we can do if he won't talk to us.  But I think if we can just sit down with him and talk it out and find out what it is we can help him through it.  Anyway, it's just really sad, because he definitely felt it in his heart that the church is true and the right path for him.   

The other experience happened when I was on exchanges.  We met a recent convert from their area.  We were talking to him about receiving the priesthood.  He didn't really want to, so we talked it out, and he told us that he doesn't have a testimony.  He kinda thought to just go forward with baptism and that a testimony would come after but he said it hadn't after already about 6 months, I think.  There was a really sad and somber tone to the meeting, but he hasn't given up, and he still has a desire so I'm confident that he will receive it.  We talked to him about what he should do to get a testimony and really what all members should do to strengthen the testimonies that we already have, that is: 1- Read the Book of Mormon, 2- Pray, 3- Come to church, 4- Live all of the commandments in order to see the results of all of those in your life.  He said he was doing the first three, but we would have to work on #4.  So it was kind of a sad eye-opening experience, but I am very optimistic because once we can help him do all of those things, he will receive that testimony.  It just reminded me how important that step #4 is.

I was on exchanges with Elders Walker and Newman this week, (the two other elders in Tomsk) and I was in their area both times, so that was really cool.  

Elder Vargin and I really need to get some more investigators to make serious progress, so that's going to be a big task and of course along with that is just getting more investigators constantly.  So, we'll keep moving along with that.  We spent more time just out on the streets contacting this week because it has been a little warmer and we had fewer meetings.  

I cut Elder Vargin's hair last week and he did mine this morning so we look really good.  Well that's it. Love y'all.

Elder Topham

Zone Conference in Novo

Hey first off, nobody commented on my prince joke..... I'm a little put off by that actually.  Oh well, I'll try to think of a better one next time.  This week was really awesome because we got to go back to Novo for zone conference and we were able to see half the mission.  I got to see, and even work a day in, my home city with the zone leaders.  It was awesome because I was with Elder Davis, from the MTC, and he's one of my favorite missionaries in the world.  The trip went well.  Funny Story -  there is a stop halfway between here and Novo where all the buses stop and there is a bathroom there that you have to pay 10 rubles to use.  So, obviously, all sensible men just go around behind the bathroom to pee.  It was just really funny and gross to go back there and see just yellow ice EVERYWHERE.  haha

Well, the big news is that in July Kazakstan is being added to our mission.  That will be cool, and I hope I get to go there.

Last P-day we went to a really cool place in Tomsk, it's like in the center of the city. It's a really old guard tower fort thing that looks over the whole city and it was really cool.

We did some service in a hospital here the other day.  We moved all of the furniture off of one of the floors so they could do remodeling.  It was really fun to get to do some manual labor like that.

V is doing really well, we taught him this week about the priesthood and he's going to be an awesome priesthood holder in a couple weeks.  He really gets it.

Our other two main investigators really hit a wall.  One is just too scared of responsibility and is too afraid of finding out more.  He was saying how he wasn't sure if the Book of Mormon was true so we got him to pray right there with us and he is just so scared to get a direct answer he said, "God, please answer the question I have in my head right now."  It's so frustrating.  The other has some concern that we haven't been able to pull out yet, so we'll see.  We have a second meeting tonight with our most promising of the new investigators from last week.  We're pulling out the big guns, we will have the branch president there with us so I hope it will go just as well as the first lesson.

I actually bought a new jacket a few minutes ago.  It's a good time because all of the stores are having sales because winter is coming closer to the end. I really like it, I hope it works out, and you should see plenty of pictures of it soon.

We've been doing some tracting in the biggest, nicest apartment buildings in the city. One, because there are a good concentration of families there. Two, because once you get in to a big building you can stay in there for a long time going through all the floors and it's nice and warm.  But we had little success with it this week and the JW's had been by one of the buildings I think, because a lot of people thought we were JW's. 

I guess I don't really have too much else.  I'm studying the language as hard as I possibly can.  Every spare moment of the day.  It's a good thing I enjoy it, because I do it a lot and it's paying off, I think.

Oh yeah, they came out with a new translation of the standard works in Russian.  And it's crazy because they didn't just fix a couple mistakes, they totally retranslated everything.  We haven't gotten the books yet, but it's available online.

Here are just a couple pictures from up at that fort tower place.

Elder Topham

God Answers Our Prayers

Well, this week was awesome. Mission's are just full of cycles when everything is going well or when nothing is going well. Now is just one of the times where everything is just going right. I would have laughed if I saw the stats that we reported this week, if I would have seen them a month ago. First and most important, we set a baptismal date with the 15 year old. He's completely ready, he's been coming to church for months, he's already on the building cleaning schedule and everything, but his parents haven't given him permission to be baptized. Elder Vargin and I went to his house on Sunday after church to talk to his mom and babooshka with him. We taught a plan of salvation lesson with special stress on the importance of being baptized and receiving the Holy Ghost here on earth, and he helped us. We all took turns testifying at the end, Elder Vargin and I talked about how much the gospel has blessed our lives and V testified about how he knows it's true and how much he loves it. He even started to cry. That really got his babooshka, she was on board right then, but up to then and even a little after then, his mom had been against it. We had been fasting with V the past day, we had actually just broken it together at their house. And at the end of the meeting, Elder Vargin was just like, "Well so, can he be baptized on the 25th?" And I think all three of us expected her to say no, but it was a miracle. God softened her heart and she said, "Well.. can we do it on the 26th so I can be there?" Oh man, it was so cool. V couldn't believe it, he was so stunned that the excitement didn't even hit him until we left and we were talking to him. It was just an awesome miracle. V definitely knows that God answers our prayers and there is real power in fasting, and I know that even more now than I did.

This week we had a bunch of first meetings. They just came from everywhere. A couple from old contacts. Two guys from the street we contacted took us straight to their apartment, and we talked. We got one from someone that we had tracted.

Oh, and here's my favorite. There was a guy in the area book that I called. His name is Prince. He's from Nigeria and here studying. He invited us over and we had a good talk with him. It was especially cool because Elder Vargin and I got to switch roles and he was stammering to try to get out what he wanted to say, and I was directing the flow of the meeting. (Elder Vargin's English is actually really good. He understands and his vocab is better than my Russian, but he just doesn't practice speaking much). And here's an interesting thing, Prince had met with the elders once or twice a year ago and he had read quite a bit about the church on the Internet. He's Catholic so he had a real problem accepting our view of the Godhead. And he also asked (fairly nicely and non argumentatively) about the why the church wasn't integrated from the start if Joseph Smith was really a prophet, and asking about race relations. I thought that was a topic that I wouldn't have to deal with in Siberia, but what do you know. We talked about it, and we talked about continuing revelation and it went over pretty well. We should get a second meeting with him. Who knows, next time his name might be, "the investigator formerly known as Prince" haha. Then on his baptismal record it will just be the symbol thing :) Haha don't worry I've been thinking about that joke for like a week.

It's been really nice and warm here this past week. I really can't complain. If it is over -20 C then I'm happy. Don't worry I don't need you to send me any more warmers. In the apartment in Tomsk there was a big cardboard box of them and I've just been using them, so I have more than plenty. Thanks. I still have all the ones you sent.

It's been a challenge to teach with a native companion. Especially when we are teaching with a member (which fortunately we've had alot of opportunities to do recently) because then there are 3 fast talking Russians in the room, and one very slow speaking American. So it's hard for me to get in what I want to say sometimes. Or a lot of times someone else just said everything that I was going to say, then Elder Vargin will look over at me like, don't you have something to add. But I don't, haha. Oh well, it's been a great experience.

Elder Topham

Pictures of my apartment...

The Kitchen

The Bedroom

The Main Room



The Bathroom