Hello again everyone! (By the way, the "weekly report" thing is what I write to President Davis every week in my president's letter...just giving you a taste of mission life)
This was a good week. We had a little bit of exciting news from the First Presidency of the Church. Worldwide, they have changed the key indicators (this might interest Adam more than others of you...but it's earth-shaking for a missionary like me) so there are only 6: Baptisms, Confirmations, Investigators with a Baptismal Date, Investigators at Sacrament Meeting, Lessons Taught with a Member Present, and Daily Contacts (the last one's just something our mission decided to have). This is a reduction from 11 key indicators. I'm not sure if this is boring or not, but for us, like I said, it's amazing.
We've been doing really well. We actually led the mission recently in our numbers, which was kind of a cool feeling to have. We also had a really good meeting in one of our wards where we had a fun skit ("Thirsty for the Water of Life," which involved me having water dumped on me and Elder Lewis wearing a toilet-paper Arab headress and riding a "camel").
Well, as usual, I've run out of time way too fast. I love you all, I miss my nieces and nephews, and I hope everyone has a great week!
Love,
--Elder Brett
ps. - Have fun at school! Hahaha!
Mongolians, Iranians, Ukrainian politics, and I (August 22, 2007)
Hello again everyone!
Well, this has been a good week. Here's some highlights:
There were a few elders who went home in the middle of the transfer, and in order to get that all settled, some of them went into threesomes with other missionaries who were staying. We got a phone call last Tuesday saying that we'd be having an overnight threesome on Thursday(of last week). The elder we had with us was Elder Dorjsuren. You may notice that name's a little different sounding that most; that's because Elder Dorjsuren's from Mongolia. Actually, there's usually at least a few Mongolian missionaries here in our mission. Elder Dorjsuren spoke near-perfect English and is really cool, it was a lot of fun to serve with him (especially when our district leader called, and Elder Dorjsuren answered the phone in Mongolian...and our district leader, being half native american, talked back in Navajo).
I also had a chance to speak with someone from Iran the other day. His name is Mohsen, and he was really cool too. He taught me a few Iranian words ("hello" is "salam," "goodbye" is "khoda khafaz," and "my name is..." is "es meh man...", just in case you need a few Iranian phrases). Apparently, almost everyone in Iran knows English pretty well. My companion, who's not always the most well-informed person, said, "I'd like to visit Iran sometime. Are there cool things to see?" Mohsen kind of smiled and said, "This might not be the best time for you to visit Iran." From what I've heard, I'd probably side with Mohsen on this one.
Later that same night, I had a chance to give a "soft" baptismal commitment (that's where you ask, "When you know that these things are true, will you get baptized?" as opposed to, "Will you get baptized on the 15th of September?"), and it went fantastically. I was on exchanges that day with an elder who didn't really know what to do, so I basically taught the entire lesson myself, gave the commitment, testified, etc. The Spirit was really strong, especially when we taught about Joseph Smith. There's really power in Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision.
All in all, it's been a good week. We've been really busy, but it's been a good kind of busy. Have a good week yourselves, and I'll write again next Wednesday!
--Brett
Well, this has been a good week. Here's some highlights:
There were a few elders who went home in the middle of the transfer, and in order to get that all settled, some of them went into threesomes with other missionaries who were staying. We got a phone call last Tuesday saying that we'd be having an overnight threesome on Thursday(of last week). The elder we had with us was Elder Dorjsuren. You may notice that name's a little different sounding that most; that's because Elder Dorjsuren's from Mongolia. Actually, there's usually at least a few Mongolian missionaries here in our mission. Elder Dorjsuren spoke near-perfect English and is really cool, it was a lot of fun to serve with him (especially when our district leader called, and Elder Dorjsuren answered the phone in Mongolian...and our district leader, being half native american, talked back in Navajo).
I also had a chance to speak with someone from Iran the other day. His name is Mohsen, and he was really cool too. He taught me a few Iranian words ("hello" is "salam," "goodbye" is "khoda khafaz," and "my name is..." is "es meh man...", just in case you need a few Iranian phrases). Apparently, almost everyone in Iran knows English pretty well. My companion, who's not always the most well-informed person, said, "I'd like to visit Iran sometime. Are there cool things to see?" Mohsen kind of smiled and said, "This might not be the best time for you to visit Iran." From what I've heard, I'd probably side with Mohsen on this one.
Later that same night, I had a chance to give a "soft" baptismal commitment (that's where you ask, "When you know that these things are true, will you get baptized?" as opposed to, "Will you get baptized on the 15th of September?"), and it went fantastically. I was on exchanges that day with an elder who didn't really know what to do, so I basically taught the entire lesson myself, gave the commitment, testified, etc. The Spirit was really strong, especially when we taught about Joseph Smith. There's really power in Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision.
All in all, it's been a good week. We've been really busy, but it's been a good kind of busy. Have a good week yourselves, and I'll write again next Wednesday!
--Brett
Hello again from Eastern Europe (August 15, 2007)
Hello again everyone!
Well, now that everything’s working well again, I actually don’t have much time to write, so I’ll go quick and try to fit as much as I can.
First of all, I’m really jealous of that trip, Mom! That’s sounds great. Why didn’t they do that when I was younger? I really want to go to Temple Square again when I get back and get to see all those things (and then go through the Salt Lake temple...).
Second, I think Steve’s going to go to the Russia Yekaterinburg mission.
All right, so this is kind of a crazy transfer. First of all, I’m cosenior, so there’s a lot more responsibility on me already. Then, our area turns out to be two areas that there weren’t enough missionaries to fill. Finally, about a week ago, we learn that another group of missionaries in our district got really sick and had to get sent home, so their area got tacked onto ours, giving us a total of THREE areas to work. All three are right in the center or so of Kyiv, where a lot of people live, and all three were busy in and of themselves; together, they keep us really quite busy.
We have a few people with baptismal dates: Pavlo and Lilia had one for last Saturday, but they’ve been really busy and weren’t prepared so it’s been pushed back. They have some word of wisdom problems, and Pavlo has this habit of looking oup anti-mormon websites. Then, we have Iryna, who is basically ready to be baptized any time now (our lessons are mostly us bringing up a topic, and then her teaching her mom that topic...) except she’s living with her boyfriend and they’re not getting married until October. However, she planned it out so that at the very soonest possible day after the marriage she will be baptized.
We also have an investigator named Volodymyr who’s really cool. He’s a funny, very social surgeon who loves meeting with us (he also loves drinking cognac, which is a bit of an issue, but it’ll get worked out).
Well, I need to go. I love you all, and I hope you all have a good week!
--Elder Hurst
Well, now that everything’s working well again, I actually don’t have much time to write, so I’ll go quick and try to fit as much as I can.
First of all, I’m really jealous of that trip, Mom! That’s sounds great. Why didn’t they do that when I was younger? I really want to go to Temple Square again when I get back and get to see all those things (and then go through the Salt Lake temple...).
Second, I think Steve’s going to go to the Russia Yekaterinburg mission.
All right, so this is kind of a crazy transfer. First of all, I’m cosenior, so there’s a lot more responsibility on me already. Then, our area turns out to be two areas that there weren’t enough missionaries to fill. Finally, about a week ago, we learn that another group of missionaries in our district got really sick and had to get sent home, so their area got tacked onto ours, giving us a total of THREE areas to work. All three are right in the center or so of Kyiv, where a lot of people live, and all three were busy in and of themselves; together, they keep us really quite busy.
We have a few people with baptismal dates: Pavlo and Lilia had one for last Saturday, but they’ve been really busy and weren’t prepared so it’s been pushed back. They have some word of wisdom problems, and Pavlo has this habit of looking oup anti-mormon websites. Then, we have Iryna, who is basically ready to be baptized any time now (our lessons are mostly us bringing up a topic, and then her teaching her mom that topic...) except she’s living with her boyfriend and they’re not getting married until October. However, she planned it out so that at the very soonest possible day after the marriage she will be baptized.
We also have an investigator named Volodymyr who’s really cool. He’s a funny, very social surgeon who loves meeting with us (he also loves drinking cognac, which is a bit of an issue, but it’ll get worked out).
Well, I need to go. I love you all, and I hope you all have a good week!
--Elder Hurst
August 8, 2007
Well, I had just spent about 20 minutes writing an email about my area, our investigators, the work in general, and some interesting things from this week, and then as I hit the "send" button, myldsmail conveniently made an error and erased my message, leaving me with no good letter to send home and no time to try write a new one. So, I promise I did things this week, I'm working hard, and I'm safe and healthy. I'll have to write more next week.
--Elder Hurst
PS - Renee and Quinn, here's the most common Ukrainian girls names: Katya, Lena, Sasha (also for guys), Svitlana (Svyetlana in Russian) and Olya. Or, if you want, there's always Snezhana...
--Elder Hurst
PS - Renee and Quinn, here's the most common Ukrainian girls names: Katya, Lena, Sasha (also for guys), Svitlana (Svyetlana in Russian) and Olya. Or, if you want, there's always Snezhana...
Surprise transfer (August 1, 2007)
Hello again everyone, something interesting happened this week. Well, actually, the story starts about a month ago. I had my monthly interview with President, and he told me that this coming transfer I would either be a senior companion, or I'd be co-senior with Elder Kauffman from my MTC group. Several weeks go by, and we get our Pack to Leave information, which says who in our district is staying, and who needs to pack their bags. This information comes about a week before transfers in order to give everyone time to pack. Basically, it said this: Elder Miles (my old companion): Pack to Leave. Elder Kauffman: Pack to Leave, but only to the apartment where I was living. Elder Hurst: Stay put.
After hearing that, and also talking to our Zone Leaders and getting it confirmed, Elder Kauffman and I were really excited to be getting to serve together. We were in the same MTC district, and we'd been in the same district in Kharkivsky for two transfers, and we were getting to be good friends and were excited to serve together. So, the day of transfers comes. The Pack to Leave info had just said for Elder Kauffman to come to my apartment, so he did that and started unpacking. Elder Kauffman's old companion and my old companion would go to the office together to get their new companions, so Elder Kauffman and I were setting up the aparment and planning out our day. Suddenly, we get a phone call from the mission office asking where I was. After a very confusing series of phone calls over the next 10 minutes, we pieced together that sometime a day or two before transfer day, the transfers got changed again, but NO ONE TOLD ME. So, I had to pack my bags in about 20 minutes, race to the office, and go to an entirely new area with just about no forewarning. So, I'm still in Kyiv, but I'm on Right Bank now (the left side of the Dniper river), in an area called Nyvky (NEEV-kee) and Shevchenkevsky (Shev-CHENK-uv-skee) (we're working both). I'm with Elder Lewis, my old MTC companion, who's...just about like he was in the MTC. We'll see how this one goes...The good news is, the work is going really well here, there's already a few investigators with baptismal dates and several more that could have them soon. Plus, people are a lot more receptive here than in any of my other areas. It'll be a good transfer. I just I had some warning about it.
All right, have a good week, and wish me luck in Nyvky!
--Elder Brett
PS- So Renee and Quinn--you're moving to Arizona? That's cool...well...not temperature-wise, but you know what I mean. I'm excited to find out about my second mission-born nephew/niece. This feels like the beginning of the book of Exodus; only instead of a pharoah who knew not Joseph, it's nieces and nephews who know not Uncle Brett. And...that's a good sign of how long I've been on a mission.
After hearing that, and also talking to our Zone Leaders and getting it confirmed, Elder Kauffman and I were really excited to be getting to serve together. We were in the same MTC district, and we'd been in the same district in Kharkivsky for two transfers, and we were getting to be good friends and were excited to serve together. So, the day of transfers comes. The Pack to Leave info had just said for Elder Kauffman to come to my apartment, so he did that and started unpacking. Elder Kauffman's old companion and my old companion would go to the office together to get their new companions, so Elder Kauffman and I were setting up the aparment and planning out our day. Suddenly, we get a phone call from the mission office asking where I was. After a very confusing series of phone calls over the next 10 minutes, we pieced together that sometime a day or two before transfer day, the transfers got changed again, but NO ONE TOLD ME. So, I had to pack my bags in about 20 minutes, race to the office, and go to an entirely new area with just about no forewarning. So, I'm still in Kyiv, but I'm on Right Bank now (the left side of the Dniper river), in an area called Nyvky (NEEV-kee) and Shevchenkevsky (Shev-CHENK-uv-skee) (we're working both). I'm with Elder Lewis, my old MTC companion, who's...just about like he was in the MTC. We'll see how this one goes...The good news is, the work is going really well here, there's already a few investigators with baptismal dates and several more that could have them soon. Plus, people are a lot more receptive here than in any of my other areas. It'll be a good transfer. I just I had some warning about it.
All right, have a good week, and wish me luck in Nyvky!
--Elder Brett
PS- So Renee and Quinn--you're moving to Arizona? That's cool...well...not temperature-wise, but you know what I mean. I'm excited to find out about my second mission-born nephew/niece. This feels like the beginning of the book of Exodus; only instead of a pharoah who knew not Joseph, it's nieces and nephews who know not Uncle Brett. And...that's a good sign of how long I've been on a mission.
Transfers again (July 25, 2007)
Well, it's transfers time again. Six weeks really seemed like a long time before my mission...now it's pretty quick. Well, I'm staying put in Kharkivsky, which will make this my third transfer here, and will make this the longest I've stayed in one area so far (including the MTC). But, as has become usual for me, I'll be getting a new companion (aside from the MTC and my trainer, I haven't had a companion for more than one transfer). But, the good news is I already know who my comp's gonna be--Elder Kauffman, my friend from my MTC group. I'm really looking forward to it. We've been in the same district for two transfers already, and we've been hoping that somehow we'd get put together. It should be a lot of fun. Plus, he's a harder worker than any of my companions up to this point so far, so that'll be a nice change. (My list of companions so far is sort of a mission joke).
Well, hopefully once Elder Kauffman and I get together, we can turn our area around. The past two transfers have been really tough here, and this last transfer has basically consisted of me trying to do the work of two while my companion talked about girls and school and how much money he's going to make in his future career (oral surgery...) and did little else. Not the ideal working situation, but it's also sort of the story of my mission.
Well, aside from that, the only exciting news I have is that I bought a new pair of shoes to replace my old pair. I wish I'd taken a picture of the old ones...I'll have to send a picture next week. It's pretty impressive to me. The right shoe has had its heel worn from the outside corner all the way down, and the inside had the slight tendency to make my heel bleed. As a result I can now safely advise any future missionaries: Rockports are not good mission shoes. Ecco's are the way to go.
Well, that's all that's been exciting for me this week. As today is Elder Miles's last P-Day in this area, we're going to be running around to all the different spots he's wanted to go to before he left, so it should be a pretty busy day. I love you all, I love the pictures of the family (could I get copies of them on paper? thanks! that would be fantastic), and I love all your emails!
--Elder Brett
PS - We can get emails from whoever wants to send them, but we can only send emails to family and the mission office, so Mom, if you want to tell Shawn Soelberg that he could write me regular letters that'd probably be best. Thanks!
PPS - Good luck in surgery on Monday Angie!
Well, hopefully once Elder Kauffman and I get together, we can turn our area around. The past two transfers have been really tough here, and this last transfer has basically consisted of me trying to do the work of two while my companion talked about girls and school and how much money he's going to make in his future career (oral surgery...) and did little else. Not the ideal working situation, but it's also sort of the story of my mission.
Well, aside from that, the only exciting news I have is that I bought a new pair of shoes to replace my old pair. I wish I'd taken a picture of the old ones...I'll have to send a picture next week. It's pretty impressive to me. The right shoe has had its heel worn from the outside corner all the way down, and the inside had the slight tendency to make my heel bleed. As a result I can now safely advise any future missionaries: Rockports are not good mission shoes. Ecco's are the way to go.
Well, that's all that's been exciting for me this week. As today is Elder Miles's last P-Day in this area, we're going to be running around to all the different spots he's wanted to go to before he left, so it should be a pretty busy day. I love you all, I love the pictures of the family (could I get copies of them on paper? thanks! that would be fantastic), and I love all your emails!
--Elder Brett
PS - We can get emails from whoever wants to send them, but we can only send emails to family and the mission office, so Mom, if you want to tell Shawn Soelberg that he could write me regular letters that'd probably be best. Thanks!
PPS - Good luck in surgery on Monday Angie!
It's really, really hot... (July 18, 2007)
Hello again all, it's that time of week again. Well, things are going well, except it's really hot again outside. We have a mission standard of 3-4 hours of finding a day, and our area doesn't have that good of tracting (most of the apartment buildings have electronic locks that we can't get into), so we spend 3 to 4 hours every day at least (sometimes quite a bit more) out in the sun walking around. I really wonder sometimes how far I've walked in this area, because I bet it's an incredible amount. I know this area far better than any other I've had, mostly because I've been up and down almost every street here a LOT. But, thankfully, we've been able to meet with several members of our ward here, so we should be able to get some work going with them. There's a really, really cool newlywed family here named the Russo family that we met with on Sunday. Brother Russo is 24, I think, and he's served in the Ukrainian navy for 3 years and been on a mission to Latvia. He and his wife, Anna, have been married for about 10 months, and they'll be having a kid here soon. They invited us to go on a picnic with them and another newlywed couple from the ward, which would be a lot of fun; they were really excited to work with the missionaries, so we're expecting good things from this.
So, I'm not sure how many of you receive the Church News (or, if you do get it, how many of you read it...I know I certainly didn't before my mission), but in the most recent edition there's an article about the Kyiv Temple groundbreaking, and included is a picture of one of the families from my area! There's also a picture of Alexander Manzhos, a Ukrainian member of the quorum of the Seventy, and Viktor Kanchenko, our stake president. The picture of the Vashenko family is really cool. They're pretty much the perfect family.
On Saturday, we had a "frank talk" lesson with our eternal investigator family. In case you don't know what a frank talk lesson is, it's where we sit down with them and see whether they're really interested in our message, or not. This time was really hard because I really like this family. They're really nice and funny, and they love missionaries, but the problem is, they just don't care about the gospel. She's a happy seventh-day adventist, and he's a happy agnostic, and they're both content that "all roads lead to God," and that one should find the religion most comfortable for their own, personal wants. They compared it to the 12 tribes of Israel, saying that the different churches are like different tribes ("Ah, but didn't all the tribes follow Moses and Joshua and all the other prophets, together?"), they said that all churches were the same ("That's what prompted Joseph Smith to pray in the first place!") and that the Book of Mormon was just like any other religious book. This last one is one that we've heard a lot recently. The wonderful thing about the Book of Mormon is that it's worth more than the sum of its parts. If one merely reads it, they'll find a nice book with scriptural lessons and doctrines similar to the Bible, though in a different location, with different people, and sometimes explained more than is found in the Bible. But that's not the most important part! The most important part is what's written in Moroni 10:3-5, that after we have received the Book of Mormon and read in it, we can pray directly to our Father in Heaven and ask if it's true, and then receive a personal, private witness direct to us through the Holy Ghost that it is, indeed, true. That is what makes the Book of Mormon different than any other religious book--it's true, and God wants us all to know for ourselves that it's true.
Well, I've got to get going again, time waits for no one, and as usual, I've been long-winded. I love you all, I'm jealous of all your various vacations (the dilophosaurus footprint was really cool Mom, and I'm impressed by your cliff jumping escapades). Have a good week everyone!
--Elder Brett
So, I'm not sure how many of you receive the Church News (or, if you do get it, how many of you read it...I know I certainly didn't before my mission), but in the most recent edition there's an article about the Kyiv Temple groundbreaking, and included is a picture of one of the families from my area! There's also a picture of Alexander Manzhos, a Ukrainian member of the quorum of the Seventy, and Viktor Kanchenko, our stake president. The picture of the Vashenko family is really cool. They're pretty much the perfect family.
On Saturday, we had a "frank talk" lesson with our eternal investigator family. In case you don't know what a frank talk lesson is, it's where we sit down with them and see whether they're really interested in our message, or not. This time was really hard because I really like this family. They're really nice and funny, and they love missionaries, but the problem is, they just don't care about the gospel. She's a happy seventh-day adventist, and he's a happy agnostic, and they're both content that "all roads lead to God," and that one should find the religion most comfortable for their own, personal wants. They compared it to the 12 tribes of Israel, saying that the different churches are like different tribes ("Ah, but didn't all the tribes follow Moses and Joshua and all the other prophets, together?"), they said that all churches were the same ("That's what prompted Joseph Smith to pray in the first place!") and that the Book of Mormon was just like any other religious book. This last one is one that we've heard a lot recently. The wonderful thing about the Book of Mormon is that it's worth more than the sum of its parts. If one merely reads it, they'll find a nice book with scriptural lessons and doctrines similar to the Bible, though in a different location, with different people, and sometimes explained more than is found in the Bible. But that's not the most important part! The most important part is what's written in Moroni 10:3-5, that after we have received the Book of Mormon and read in it, we can pray directly to our Father in Heaven and ask if it's true, and then receive a personal, private witness direct to us through the Holy Ghost that it is, indeed, true. That is what makes the Book of Mormon different than any other religious book--it's true, and God wants us all to know for ourselves that it's true.
Well, I've got to get going again, time waits for no one, and as usual, I've been long-winded. I love you all, I'm jealous of all your various vacations (the dilophosaurus footprint was really cool Mom, and I'm impressed by your cliff jumping escapades). Have a good week everyone!
--Elder Brett
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