I Will Surely Remember Their Love

Well I've got a sec on the computer, so I figure I'll write a little something for the blog. I'll be talking with you guys in about an hour.

It's been a really good last week. Zone Conference on Wednesday was a really cool experience. At the end they had all of the 16 departing missionaries testify/give some parting advice. I was last in the order and right after Elder Davis, so I was already pretty emotional before I even started to make my comments.

I think it was after that Zone conference that it actually hit me that I was going home. We had a really busy week. There were a bunch of member families, investigators and former investigators who wanted to see us before I left. We had a big turnout at church. V, A, Z, G, and a member's boyfriend who we have been trying to work with showed up. In all there were 14 investigators at church out of a congregation of about 100. Plus K, an inactive member in one of the families that we work with came to church for the first time in several years. Only a couple people there recognized him. I was really happy for him.

We went over with P to his girlfriend's place and she really likes us and feels comfortable with us now, she isn't very interested in what we are saying yet, but she will come around.

We had a really good last lesson with A and with V and both of them are looking like they are on track to be baptized. V, probably soon.

Today I'm just trying to do some last minute preparations before we take off. We have a train this afternoon to Novosibirsk, then Wednesday morning we fly out of there.

I really love Krasnoyarsk. The members here have made it a wonderful experience and my favorite city. They really love and support the missionaries. Their faith is incredible despite all of the trials they face out here. I will surely remember their love and their examples forever and it will always strengthen my testimony.

See you in a few days.

Elder Topham

The Book of Mormon Changes Lives

So we had a really awesome week, mostly because of P's baptism. Everything went really well all week and we had a few good lessons with him, and he was pumped for the baptism. The service was great. There was a really good turnout, better than I expected even (as demonstrated by how there were not enough refreshments). Our investigators V and M both came, also the sister's investigator. The really cool thing is that P's daughter and her Mom came. We had only met them once before and they had a good experience there and she invited us to come over during the week, which is huge progress for her. There was a really good turn out from members and they did a good job supporting. Elder Batson gave a great talk about baptism. One of the members with whom P has become friends, A, gave the other talk. All of the missionaries sang "Brightly Beams our Fathers Mercy" and it sounded really good. Probably the only hiccup was that when I baptized P the first time his foot came up out of the water. So I had to do it again, I put a foot on his feet the second time. Elder Batson told me after the service that he was probably all the way under, then his foot came up, but the witnesses had me do it again anyway. It was a really spiritual experience - the whole service, and especially being in the font with him and in the dressing room afterward. He was just really pumped and you could just see how happy he is, which is not like him because he is very introverted.

The confirmation went great the next day and after church the branch president interviewed him for the Aaronic Priesthood which he should get next week. He is really awesome and the best thing about him is how he can learn on his own, he doesn't need anyone to have to explain anything to him. He already finished the Book of Mormon, Our Heritage, and Gospel Principles.

Oh and at the end of the service, right after the words from the branch presidency, Elder Batson and I said some words and gave him some gifts. We gave him a Doctrine and Covenants with our testimonies in it, also a new white shirt, and the ties off of our chests (it was a big hit). Then they opened it up for anyone else to bear testimony or congratulate him and there were some really good and nice comments. A got up and also gave him the tie off of his chest, which I thought was really cool of him.

So that made it a really great weekend. I was an amazing experience seeing P all the way through from the beginning to baptism. I almost couldn't have imagined this day 3 months ago when we were sitting in his room the first time when he was a little drunk or the first few lessons when it seems like it wasn't really clicking. But there is one thing that changed this man's life and it is the Book of Mormon. I already had a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true, but maybe I didn't realize fully the power it has to change people and bring them to Christ.

Once P really started reading the Book of Mormon, we could see more and more light in his countenance every time we came over. He got engrossed in the Book of Mormon and read the whole thing in about a month and a half, but not only that he understood and applied everything that he read and had questions about the things he didn't understand. I remember the first time he went from not reading and he told us the next lesson that he got to second Nephi. I've been out here for a long time so I was a little skeptical, so I just kind of said, "Great, what did you read about? What did you like about it?" He goes on to give a perfect summary of exactly what happens in First Nephi even remembering names and pulling out really good insights about the importance of obedience and following the direction that God gives us, and more. I was amazed. Then later on he said he read 2 Nephi twice because he didn't really get it the first time. He read Mosiah twice because he liked it so much he decided to re-read it before he went to Alma.

The Book of Mormon gave him a testimony of Jesus Christ and the restored gospel, then from then on out we just had to use that strength to help guide him through his trials, and change his life in order to live in accordance with the commandments.

I don't know if I have ever told you how we met P. It was on a Tuesday and that is one of the days we don't have any standing appointments, so it is really hard to get things set up for Tuesday during the day. So that particular Tuesday, Elder J and I couldn't get any lessons and we had about a 2-3 hour chunk of time so we were looking at the map trying to decide where to go contacting. We prayed about it to receive inspiration about where to go, and after the prayer we both didn't feel anything strongly. After a minute of discussion we decided it would be a good idea to go down to a street which is called Shorsa, that was fairly main and we didn't get down there much, because in order to get there you have to walk maybe about a mile through an industrial part of town with not much of anything and no people. So we set off and talked to all the men in our path. We didn't really get any good conversations except for once we were in the middle of that industrial stretch and met a shy skinny guy in a long black coat who actually talked to us for a bit and said he would like to know more, and that we could come over the next day. We kept going and actually didn't make it to Shorsa, we turned off at the street before it which was also fairly main with a bunch of people on it, we probably got a couple more little conversations there and maybe a number or two, but I think we get the point of this story. The Lord led us to where we needed to be even if it didn't feel like any kind of amazing revelation.

Ok well other than that, V says he wants to be baptized, but he still doesn't believe in some of the main points of doctrine of the church, so we'll see where that goes. Not much progress from anyone else.

The leadership council at Novo was really good. All of the missionaries are going back this Wednesday for zone conference.

Yeah I'd love to speak in Seminary that would be great.

Love you Mom

Elder Topham

 



To answer the question about when the Church here celebrates Easter. They kind of do both, but probably more so the one in May. I don't know if there is much special that they do here, I don't really remember from last year, the only thing i remember is that they have a cool phrase that everyone uses instead of just saying "Happy Easter". The first person says "иисус воскрес" then the second person says "во истину воскрес" which means "Jesus has risen" "He has indeed risen" or pretty much like that. I know they paint eggs but they don't hide them.

This week went really well. Wednesday was pretty good, we had a lesson scheduled before English with V. and we called Z, a member, to come teach him with us. But Z showed up with his friend, also Z, who is also our investigator, with whom we had lost contact for a while. Plus one of the other Elders' investigators was there already, so we called the other Elders who shortly came, and the cool thing was Elder Noel came really early so we were able teach everyone. I went with Z to teach Z. Elders Batson and Berg taught V. And Elders Duncan and Noel taught their investigator who could speak some English.

Then we have been having some really good success with P and V. P hasn't smoked for 2 weeks. He had a baptismal interview and now we are planning his baptism for Saturday. The members have done a really good job befriending V and now it is really nice that he is at the point where we don't have to worry about him at church and stuff, because it is easy for him to find someone to sit by. His personality is a little argumentative and it always seems like the lessons didn't go great, but then he always keeps his commitments, and he has really been changing. Last time I asked him if he thought he would be ready for his baptismal date, he said, "Yeah, I think I will" when before he approached it as more of a tentative goal and didn't think he was going to be ready for it.

No huge progress with any of the other investigators for now.

Saturday morning we had a really good service project. There is this little tradition that Lenin started where on the last Saturday in April everyone gets together to clean up the cities. In Krasno they went pretty big on it. If it happened in Novo last year I didn't notice. All of the government officials and volunteer organizations participated, also all of the schools had areas that they were in charge of cleaning, and our branch had an area, it was really cool. We filled two garbage trucks full of trash. I fulfilled a childhood dream throwing garbage bags into the truck.

Then that evening we put on a little talent show. I juggled again then I gave a spiritual thought at the end. It was a good night, decent but not a huge turnout. Some investigators and a good handful of people from English came and some members. One of the English goers that came also came to church the next day, and she is really into the church and already getting along really well with the members. I bet the sisters will have her baptized within the next little while.

Well that is pretty much all that I can think of today. I'll be going with Elder Harrison to Novosibirsk on Wednesday for leadership council. We are really looking forward to the baptism on Saturday. We are going to see the Krasnoyarsk basketball team for culture night tonight.

Sunday at church was really awesome there were 130 people at sacrament meeting. That is about 20 higher than it has ever been this year.

OK well have a good week everyone. Love you Mom.

Then one of us with a random guy we contacted, his friend was taking the picture, and he told him he should hold up one of our books, so it turned out to be a really funny picture.

Elder Mckay and I when we were on exchanges last week.

So here is a picture of me at the zoo with a bear.

Then this was a funny story that I forgot to tell about in the main email. We got to the service project to unlock the building and there was one member already there. We walk up and he has that circular saw in his hand and he says, "The lock is busted, I propose we cut it." It was really funny. We persuaded him to call the maintenance guy first before we did anything, so he ended up coming and opening a different gate while he worked on the lock. It was really funny so I had him take a picture with us and the circular saw contemplating what we should do with the lock.

These are just a couple pictures of our apartment building.

A Lot of Ups and Downs

Hey, how's it going?

Well, it's pretty much the same in English and Russian (this is Drew's response to the question how watching General Conference in Russian compared to watching it in English), if they tell a story about something obscure then I might not know some of the details, but I get them from the context. The only bad part about watching it in Russian is the talks, especially the stories lose all of their humor and emotion.

This week was pretty good. We had a lot of ups and downs with investigators. They make us rejoice one day then pull our hair out the next.

P did really well and finally quit smoking, he has already been a whole week without smoking. Also, he finished the Book of Mormon. But he is going through a really tough time right now, because one of his friends committed suicide. And it put him in a really tough emotional state. Plus, we were going to do a baptismal interview with him on Saturday, but he got called into work. Then we were going to do it Sunday, but he got sick and didn't make it to that or to church. So we don't really know exactly what will happen this week with him. Obviously we are hoping and praying for the best.

We had a lesson with M this week. And we definitely agree with Mom and talked to him about that, how it won't be any easier to make that decision even after he gets the job. When we were studying and planning for the lesson I had a really interesting idea come to me about what we should teach, that was very unlike anything I have ever done in a lesson before. We prepared a lesson about damnation and what that word means. The Bible Dictionary gives some really good definitions about what it means. And we emphasized to him how one of the meanings is that your progress is stopped and that's why there are so many scriptures that say if you are not baptized you will be damned. Then we also talked about where much is given much is required, and made it clear that he may think he is a member but he isn't because he hasn't made that covenant. We also touched on sins of commission and sins of omission emphasizing that choosing not to be baptized is also a sin. Needless to say it was quite the interesting lesson and it went great. With the relationship that we already had we were able to present it in a way where he understood everything, but still felt our love and didn't get offended by anything that we said. He is making progress I think. We'll see what happens. It was just interesting how the Spirit prompted us to talk about this stuff, when it was really uncharacteristic of both Elder Batson and me.

We were also able to set a baptismal "goal" with V this week who is making good progress and isn't confident that he has received an answer yet, but is moving along nicely and changing a lot.

President and the assistants came out this weekend. I got to work a day with Elder McKay which was sweet. It's been really fun to go on exchanges with these missionaries that I had done exchanges with as an assistant, and now they are in leadership positions and you can see how much they have grown.

No other serious news or progress about any other investigators.

Ok well I guess that is it. Time has been flying by and I'm very grateful that we have a good little core of investigators to work with, this is a really good time on the mission. Have a good week. Love you Mom.

Elder Topham

Easy to Stay Focused

Hey, how's it going? We had a pretty good week this week. Elder B and I get along really well and we are really good friends. We don't really do too much on P-days, everyone once in a while will go see something but pretty rarely.

No, I wish that was a real fox (in the picture last week). That park that we were at just has cardboard cut-outs of animals out in the snow along the trail, its kind of strange actually, but it was a cool picture. So needless to say we saw all kinds of stuff while we were there, foxes, bears, elk, you name it. All the snow melted this week, there is still a chilly wind sometimes, but I hope the snow is gone forever.

P is doing well. Last Sunday morning he had to take his daughter to the hospital (it seems like Russians go to the hospital for every little thing), so that is why he didn't show at church or for the lesson. And we had a really good week with him, he has already read the Book of Mormon through 3rd Nephi, and he has a really strong testimony of its truthfulness. He really want to be baptized and the only thing holding him back is smoking, so we are still working on it, but he's not giving up.

We watched conference this weekend. I ended up watching three of the sessions in Russian because we had investigators there, and I watched the other 2 in English. One line that the prophet said that really stood out to me, I believe it was during the priesthood session was about how a mission is a family affair, and about all of the sacrifices that people at home make, and it really touched me, so thank you all for that, especially Mom.

We had a really good turnout at conference for investigators. V came to all four sessions, and that was great for him. He had his notebook out the whole time and we met with him Sunday night and just went over all of his questions. He is coming along well. P and Z came to the Sunday morning session and M made it to the Sunday afternoon session. A was a no show :(

The Betzel family had us over last Monday night and fed us dinner, it was really good, we rarely eat full meals at members' houses, so that was really cool of them and we had a good time.

Other than that, nothing really special, we have just been working with those investigators and just trying to find more in the other time we have.

M is ready to be baptized, but he told us he doesn't want to yet because he wants to get a job as a police officer, but if they know he is a Mormon then they won't give him the job. So we are going to keep working with him and see if that is really the issue and how we are going to solve that.

Well that is really all I can think of. It's been really easy to stay focused and it doesn't even seem like I'm leaving soon. It's nice to have a good handful of people whom we see regularly that I can constantly think about, study for, pray for. It is still frustrating when they don't make the progress that you expect, but it has been a really good time on the mission comparative to other times.

Ok well thats all I can think of. Have a good week

Elder Topham

A really good time when you can lose yourself in studying and praying for others...

Hey, so this week has gone pretty well. We have had some really good experiences and some really disappointing ones.

We were having a really good week with P. We set a goal this week and made a plan that he would quit smoking starting Saturday afternoon. He said the next morning would be the hardest, so we thought it was great because we would we with him in the morning and do a lesson before church, then he would be at church during that time. And right after that he could go to his daughters birthday party and keep himself occupied. We planned a lesson about fasting and started teaching, and he just taught us basically, he said he already read about it in the back of the scriptures, and he already knew everything, it was really amazing. We ran into a little bump because later in the week he called us and said that he had just read about tithing and wasn't sure that he could be able to do that. We agreed to talk about it in the next lesson. Everything was going really well and when we talked to him on Saturday he had officially quit smoking and everything was good for Sunday, but then Sunday came around and he just never showed up and never answered his phone. I'm worried that he gave in Sunday morning and was too ashamed to talk to us, I don't know why else he would have disappeared like that. So we will try to get in touch with him and show our love and support.

A is still chugging along, we see him about once a week. He came to church this week and fasted to receive an answer so that is a big step for him.

M wants to be baptized, but hasn't committed to a date, he was sick this Sunday so we didn't see him this weekend.

We have two other solid investigators. I'm really grateful that we have a good pool of people to teach, a pool this size has been pretty rare for my mission. It's made it a really good time when you can lose yourself in studying and praying for others. That is hard to do with few or no investigators.

Z is a guy that describes himself as a "realist" so he can't believe in things he doesn't have evidence for. He really likes everything that we teach and says that he comes to our meetings with the hope that he will get convincing evidence. We have been working with him a lot to talk about what faith is, turn him to the scriptures and prayer in order to get his own personal "evidence" because really that is the only kind of evidence we can give him, is to help him have his own spiritual experiences.

Then V from English, he is a little contentious and gets in little arguments with the members we have on lessons sometimes. We had an interesting experience with him yesterday. He brought a friend to our lesson, who was being very contentious and even rude to us. and V really stepped up and defended us and our faith and what we were teaching, so I think that could have been a really pivotal moment in his conversion.

A, Z and V all made it to church this week.

Well that is really what we have been up to this week. It's been nice to be busy with all of them and our other usual business.

We took one of the inactive members who we work with to the Noels for dinner this week and that was a really good time. It made everyone happy because the Noels wanted to meet more of the inactive young members and we love Sister Noel's cooking so it was good for everyone.

Well I think that is about all I've got this week. Have a good one.


Elder Topham

 

 

And some of us at Stolby. The blue jacket is one of our investigators.

 

 

 

 

A Little Explosion

Well this was my first full week with Elder Batson, (minus the day that I went to Novo with Elder Harrison for ZLC) and it went really well. We were pretty busy and had a little explosion of new investigators I guess you could say.

First, as we were going to P's place, there was a guy standing outside the building and he was a rough looking guy, and it's a rough neighborhood, and he came up to us asking what was going on with the Americans that keep going to P's place. By the way he asked it didn't seem like it was going to be a good situation, but he turned out to be an alright guy and we had a good talk with him for a while, taught him and gave him a Book of Mormon right there, (it was still pretty cold). Then we called him and agreed to meet him there another time and when we showed up, we saw him there with two other rough looking guys. I guess they were just some more neighbors that live right there in that staircase, one of them went in shortly but one of the other guys had been reading the first guy's Book of Mormon and wanted his own. So now we are teaching three guys who's apartments are in that staircase. The two new ones both came to sacrament meeting also, we will have a lot of work to do with them, but they'll come around after a while. And once we get P baptized that will be really convenient for "member-present lessons."

Speaking of P, we had a really good week with him. He chose April 27 as his goal for baptism, and today as the day that he is completely quitting smoking. He had already cut down to only a couple a day, but today he goes off for good. He really has a strong desire and I believe that he can do it, so we will be supporting him a lot throughout the week.

Another really cool experience this week was at church last week I found out that a guy who had been coming for a while wasn't actually a member and I had assumed he was. He started coming off and on a few weeks ago and when he came, everyone knew him and he talked to all the members young and old. I talked to him a few times but just always assumed he was a member. Anyway, upon finding out that he was not a member I set up a lesson with him, and yesterday at the lesson he explained how he has been coming off and on for about 7 years and he likes it because of the peace he feels at church away from the world. I asked him if we wants to be baptized and he said after pondering for a good while, "Yeah I really don't see why not." So we are going to pick a date next meeting and make a plan, but he should be ready to go really soon.

Then, in addition to that we launched English this week and had a great turnout, everyone did a good job finding people for it and getting the word out the last couple weeks. We got two new investigators from it already, and one of them came to church as well.

So the work is going really well, this is probably the most investigators that I have ever had on my mission - maybe at the apex of Elder Anderson and I's time together we had about this many. It will be really cool if they can all stick around. And I can see the 3 of them getting baptized soon.

Elder Harrison and I went to Novosibirsk together on Friday night for ZLC. It was really good as usual, then on the train back Saturday night, there was a Buddhist Monk from Tibet who travels around Russia doing Buddhist seminars in the cupe next to us, we struck up a conversation with him. He was really friendly and invited us into his cupe and we talked for a good while. He told us a lot about his Buddhist stuff and showed us a lot of pictures on his iPad. (He was dressed traditionally and I thought it was really funny when he whipped out his iPad, he is a very modern monk.) He asked us some questions and we preached to him for a while and gifted him a Book of Mormon. So that was an interesting experience for the train ride back.

When I was in Novo Elder Batson ran into that investigator from last week accidentally again. But he didn't show at church so I don't know what his deal is.

Yesterday was really warm, probably in the low fifties, and everything was wet all over as stuff was melting, but today got below freezing again and started snowing. And it was really windy.

Have a good week. Love you.

Elder Topham

Grateful for The Guidance of the Holy Ghost

Well this week was pretty good. Elder J and I finished up our last couple days together, we were able to get a lot of meetings on Monday and Tuesday with the "Elder J is leaving so we need to meet" line. We got on a train Tuesday night and we were in Novosibirsk on Wednesday. Wednesday night was pretty cool because we went to English there in Novo and someone Elder Anderson and I had taught, with whom we hadn't made much progress, was there. And Elder Smith has been teaching him and he has changed a lot and come along way since then. Elder Smith and I were able to teach him together after English.

Thursday morning I got my new companion at the mission home. His name is Elder Batson. He is from San Diego. He's a really cool guy. He is also really big, about 6'3'', football player and fighter. Everyone has been commenting about how I always get big companions and it is true, I've gotten all the big ones. We did the orientation in the morning then went to lunch with the assistants. We had a train back to Krasno that night.

Since then it has been the usual stuff. This week was district conference, so the meeting was held in Novosibirsk and was broadcast to Omsk and Krasnoyarsk, so we just watched it.

We had an interesting experience this week with a new investigator. It was Friday night and this was the third person that Elder Batson talked to, he stopped the guy and once he answered, just looked at me hoping I understood what he was saying. We had a good conversation with the guy. He said that he was having a really hard time and that day had prayed for someone to help him. He told us all of his problems, which were many, and the one he was most concerned about was his financial problem. We set up a lesson for Saturday, and he doesn't have a phone, so we weren't very confident that he would come. But Saturday came around and he did. The lesson went well, but at the end it seemed like he was mostly interested that the church could help him financially. So he came on Sunday and talked to the branch president. He came out of the meeting looking a little disappointed. Told us that the branch president gave him some advice about where he could go for help first and some things to do before the church could help him. He told us he would like to learn more but only after he sorted everything out. So he left and we expected to never see him again. That night our lesson fell through and we took off contacting, but we decided to go the other way on the main street than we normally go. We walked for about 15 minutes and we ran right into this guy. He seemed even more surprised than us. He told us that after he left the first place he went he got a job and that he would be going to work the next day at a car wash. He had a whole change of countenance and was really shocked about how this had all worked out. He gave us his address and set up a meeting for later in the week and now he seems much more interested than he was before. So I'm very grateful for the guidance of the Holy Ghost, which helped the branch president know what to do to help this man and that led us to the place where we needed to be at the right time to find him, twice.

Oh, I forgot to tell a funny story from last week. Last week at sacrament meeting the branch president came up to me and Elder J and asked if we could conduct because the chorister didn't show up or anyone else that usually does it, I guess. I said sure why not. It's weird, I would have been much more hesitant at home, but I think on a mission you are used to trying new things and used to being embarrassed, so I thought it was no big deal I know how to do the 4/4 and the 3/4 so why not. I did have a slight problem because in the Russian hymn book there is one hymn that they didn't split right on the pages so you have to turn the page while you are singing. So I was holding the book in one hand and waving the other so I lost the beat when I had to turn the page. But other than that it was good. The sacrament hymn was easy. But then the closing hymn was 6/8 I heard you could simplify it, but I wasn't exactly sure how at the time, so I just did it like it said in the back of the book in 6/8. I got all kinds of comments from people after sacrament meeting about how that was the first time anyone has ever done it like that, and if I went to a music school or something to learn how to do that. One lady said that my arms were so long that it gave people more energy when they were singing. So anyway that was fun and interesting. I bet you never thought I would do that mom.

Well, I don't think anything is going on for Easter. I think there will be a branch Easter activity but that will be at the end of April closer to the Russian Easter.

Ok, I think that's it. Have a good week. Love you Mom.

Elder Topham

Changes

Hey, how's it going?

This week went by pretty quick, a lot of traveling.

By the way, there is a new email rule, and now we are allowed to email anybody that we want, family, friends, converts, so that will make emailing much easier. It's too bad it came out only at the end of my mission. This rule came from the top, so it trumped all the restrictions that the area presidency was putting on email.

So this week we left on Tuesday night for Novosibirsk and had zone conference there on Wednesday. Then Thursday morning Elder J and I took off for the airport and went to Finland, we flew into Krasno on Saturday. So that took up most of the week. Zone conference was great as always. This one was a little weird because the missionaries who I consider my contemporaries like Elders Anderson and Terry were giving their last testimonies. It was really cool to see Elder Anderson, he had been in Kazakhstan for six months so I hadn't seen or heard anything from him, but we had a good chance to catch up.

Everything on the Visa trip went pretty smoothly. We got to go to a temple session in the morning, other than that we were pretty busy because we had to go to the travel agency in the center twice, but we still had time to make it to all-you-can-eat pizza at night and McDonald's for lunch the next day before we flew out.

I'm going to be training another new missionary for my last 8 weeks. I go into Novo again this week to pick him up and go through orientation and everything with him. President changed the structure of the mission leadership. Recently the missionary department put in these things called "zone training meetings" and it's a monthly meeting that the zone leaders teach after they attend ZLC. They also put in a stipulation that people shouldn't have to travel more than 2 hours to attend the meetings, so basically now each city will be it's own zone with a zone leader, and there will be no more district leaders. The zone leaders will basically do the responsibilities of the former zone and district leaders. In the 3 big cities there are 2 zone leaders each, but they are not companions which enables the zone leaders to also be trainers. So that's what is going to happen to me the next 2 transfers. The other zone leader in Krasno will be Elder Harrison who was with me in the MTC, it was also really cool to see him, since he has also been in KZ for 6 months. Elder J is going to Novokuz and will train in a transfer.

Lets see, A is doing well and making progress again, he came to church again. P is still doing well. Other than that, the only investigators we have now are a group of Muslim guys that live together. That is always a fun time and an interesting experience. There are 4 guys that live there and a different combination of 2 of them have been home the last 3 times we went over. Plus, this last time there were 2 other random friends there. It's a challenge because they all believe at different levels. For example, one of them wears a prayer hat and prays 5 times a day on a schedule, and one of them doesn't know anything besides that fact that he is Muslim because he was born that way, and others in between. Yesterday we watched "Finding Faith in Christ" with them, hopefully we are making little steps of progress. On my mission it has been really hard to work with Muslims because its so culturally ingrained in who they are that they are Muslim, You are Christian and that's just the way it is, the concept of seeking for truth and true doctrine and authority really doesn't register at all. But also I have noticed that they are much kinder, friendlier, and just nicer than the average. They actually stop and talk to us on the street, and many will invite you over and offer to feed you.

Last P-day we went to Stolby, it's the state park by the mountains at the side of the city, it was very beautiful there, we didn't get to go very far because of time but it was still cool. A and a few members came with us too. Ok, I think that's it. I'll write a couple more emails to some individuals, but it's already been more than a year that I've lost contact with pretty much everyone besides the family. But I don't have too much longer before I can just see them. OK have a good week. Love you Mom.

Elder Topham

Progress

This week was pretty good. We continued to have some pretty good success with our investigator P. He is still accepting everything well and making good progress on the commandments. The big highlight of this week was the branch party that was on Saturday. It was to celebrate both holidays, the 23 of February for men and the eigth of March for women. They did a talent show and some little games and stuff, it was really well run and well attended. I juggled at the talent show and all of the missionaries did a number together. We sang the classic Russian song Katyusha, mixed with Called to Serve, I think everyone really liked it. I only dropped once on my juggling routine, so I was pretty happy about that. The best thing was that we had a great turnout at the party. P came with his girlfriend and their daughter. A came and brought his mom. One of our new Muslim investigators came, the husband in a part member family that we have been trying to work with, and a few people from English came, we were really happy about the turnout and it was all really well done, so everyone had a good time.

Elder Terry and I had some good exchanges. I guess the only thing special that we did was that I made one of those Reese's desserts, and that for dinner we went out to a little pizza place.

 

 

This week we won't really be in Krasno at all. Wednesday there is a zone conference in Novosibirsk so we are leaving tomorrow night for that. Then Elder J and I fly out to Finland the next morning, we fly directly back into Krasno on Saturday morning. Then that next week will be the transfer. The bad news is that Elder J and I have to go separate from the other people on the visa group, the good news is we will be able to spend a little more time in Finland maybe long enough to go to the temple, I hope the stuff we have to do with him at the travel agency will go quick so we can do a session at the temple.

Other than that, not really too much new going on here. That's nice to get the updates about Matt and Dani, sounds like they are doing really well. Have a good week.

Elder Topham

 

Me by a tank at "Victory Park."

 

Birthday

Hey, so here's some good news, when I was in Novo last week that package was already there so I got it before my birthday. Thank you very much, I already opened it and have been enjoying it.

Also thank you very much for getting that apartment situation worked out. I know you put a lot of time and effort into that and to me that solution that worked out sounds perfect. Thank you so much.

Well, Elder J and I had a really tough end of the week. We were out of town for most of the week in Kemerovo and in Novosibirsk. We did the exchanges with our zone leaders in Kemerovo. And we had to travel through Novosibirsk to do so. The exchanges went well and we had a good time out there.

But we were really disappointed because in our next lesson with A he told us that he felt like he wasn't ready any more and he wanted more time to research. It turns out that his mom convinced him that he wasn't prepared enough to make that big of a decision and that he needs to study the Bible more. That part was understandable, but then it turns out that his mom has been pointing out some of the classic anti-lds verses in the bible, and kind of pointing him in that direction, so I was very disappointed to hear that, because he really respects the opinion of his mom. And unfortunately he is paying more attention to her right now than the Spirit so it is causing him to question everything that he had a testimony about. So that was really disappointing, almost even devastating that night when all that stuff came out and we had to cancel the baptism. The good news is that he is still working with us and should still be coming to stuff (although he didn't come to church this weekend.)

The assistants, Elders Blake and Johnson came out to Krasno this weekend and it was really nice having them with us the next day after we found out about A. They did a good job keeping our spirits up.

Sunday was nice because one of our other newer investigators made it out to church. He's been through a lot and is making slow progress. We are helping him get through a lot of problems. We are going to see him tonight. Other than that it is just the regular stuff I think.

It's gotten warmer and alot of the snow and ice is starting to melt so it is pretty slushy and gross out on the streets.

At district meeting we celebrated Elder Terry and my birthdays at the Noel's. It's really funny because we have the exact same birthday and last year we were both in Novo and celebrated it together at the Webb's. I actually planned an exchange with him tomorrow on our birthdays, so maybe we'll do something fun too tomorrow. I'll for sure make one of those Reese's things. Ok, that's it. Hope everyone has a good week. Thanks for emailing it's always fun to read them.

-Elder Topham 

Here is one of elder terry and I at the birthday. I have a video but it didn't send so you can see it later some time.

 

Fairly Successful

Either of those two apartment options would be great. I am going to try to play basketball which would mean going to the Marriott Center often. But we would also do weightlifting at the student athlete building. But on the other hand, I don't know if that would work out, and my back up plan would be to teach at the MTC. So with that being said I really have no preference, it is actually kind of hard for me to picture everything anyway. So choose whatever, especially if you think one or the other is better, but if not, it doesn't matter to me. I just want to thank you for all of the time and effort that you are putting into this, I really appreciate it.

That was really cool to hear about Craig's little bit of fame. I really like him, and I'm glad that he got so experience that.

Good job being goalie Matt, and Dani the Air Alert will start getting really hard at week 6 or so. And it sounds like you made wise choices on your classes.

And Sam it's totally fine that you won't be at the airport, this way when I see you then you can get all the hugs and you won't have to share time with Mom and Dani. Oh yeah, and did I tell you I got your letter with the BYU decals in it? Well I got it not too long ago and now they are on the back of my tags and they look really cool

Everything this week went really well. A is still doing really well, he brought his mom to church again this week. We finished teaching him all the lessons because we are heading to Kemerovo tonight and will be there for a couple days, because that is where our zone leaders live now. Then right when we get back he should have his interview. Then hopefully the baptism next Saturday.

Our Chinese investigator is doing really well. We found out that he lives on left bank, so when I was on exchanges with Elder Jones over there we taught him, and now the left bank elders will take over. We were teaching him the plan of salvation in his dorm room and he was really into it and had some really good questions.We had a little display thing layed out on the table,then two of his Chinese buddies walked in, and he started explaining the whole thing to them in Chinese, one of the spoke Russian well, the other one almost not at all. So he is doing really well, but he didn’t make it to church this week.

Other than that the week was fairly successful in getting some first lessons, some of the people we taught are very humble and hopefully we will be able to help them. I think that's it. I'll send some pictures now.

Elder Topham



A picture of me and Elder J "thrusting in our sickles."

Here are some shackles that people got shipped to Siberia in.

 Me the hammer and sickle at the museum.

And me by a soviet rocket that is right by where we live.


 Some pictures of the baptism

 

 

Hey how's it going,

That is awesome news about Ms. Lewis and her daughter! I remember one of our trips to a Nevada student council conference and I think it was Chandler (but possibly Trent) had a really long conversation with her and explained a lot to her about the gospel and gave her a Book of Mormon. And from time to time throughout the year little things came up and we would talk about them. That is so awesome, she always seemed to think very well of the church and that is awesome to hear how everything worked out. That makes me really happy, I will love to see her and talk to her when I get back.

This week was really cool because A is doing really well. He is really on board with everything. He came to church again, went to Institute and went to the baptism on Saturday. He is accepting everything really well and it is very exciting. He lives right by us so we usually walk home together after our lessons, one time we ended a lesson at about 8 or so, and we told him that we were going to stay out and go contacting for a while before we went home, so he says, "Oh can I come too." I was like sure, but it's not very fun. But he went and we actually had a really good time together doing that. He is great because he always comes to lessons with really good questions and concerns, and he just listens and soaks everything in really well. It's made us really happy to have one really good investigator who we know won't cancel our lessons or not show up or something, and it has been a great experience for us to teach him. We are shooting for March 9 for baptism.

Other than that we have the regular grind. One investigator has been falling away, he's not really serious about being baptized enough to come to church or try to quit smoking, or even meet with us, when he has something more interesting to do, so that has been disappointing.

The other highlight this week is our new Chinese investigator. A foreign exchange student, he doesn't speak Russian very well, but we communicate all right so hopefully that will keep going on.

We went to a little museum this week with some old Russian peasant stuff. I thought it was really cool, because you could touch everything there. And a member of the branch works there so she treated us nicely and explained everything.

Then Saturday night was awesome. The sisters had a baptism, a babooshka. I did her interview last week and talked to her at church before. And she had me baptize her! It was really unexpected and really cool. It was a great experience and really powerful. And a little bit awkward and funny trying to get her to understand the hand positioning, leg bend and nose hold stuff, but it all was good. I'll attach some pictures of that and the museum.

Oh yeah, nothing here with the meteorite. I just heard about it from some people, that's all.

Have a good week. Love you

Elder Topham

Ok well I cant get the pictures to work here, so I'll send them another time. Sorry

God Saw Our Efforts

Hey thanks for your emails.

This week was pretty good. We still had a lot of the same challenges that we have been having, but there was some really cool stuff that happened too and some really cool new investigators.

Tuesday was a rough day and we had one lesson with a part member family that night, but we couldn't get anyone scheduled during the day. So we just contacted in the cold all day. It actually wasn't too hard to stay out that long, we both dressed really well and every once in a while popped into a store to warm up. But it was really hard to go back out after dinner.

Then on Wednesday we ran into the same situation. We had English in the evening, but we couldn't get anyone for the day, so we set out to do the same thing again. Luckily (or maybe God saw our efforts from the previous day and felt bad for us) the second guy we talked to was really interested and had just left that day to go look for work, not really knowing where he was going. He agreed to go to the church nearby and take a look and we were able to teach him a full lesson in the nice warm church.

Then that same day, we had just arrived to open up the building for English and the first guy came in, I had never seen him before and we started talking, he asked me when the next baptism is, and he said that he had promised Elder Fitzgerald that he would be baptized a year ago but it didn't work out and now he his ready. That's one of those times that you don't really know how to react, quite the pleasant surprise. We went to his home later that week, set a baptismal date with him and taught him. He has the desire, and I'm very grateful that God led him back to us.

We also had a great first lesson with a young guy that goes to English. He accepted everything almost better than anyone that I have taught a first lesson to and is a very bright guy. He is 17 and he came with his mother to church on Sunday and they both stayed for all three hours. His mom is actually a Baptist, which is very rare for Russia, she doesn't seem like she is looking for a different church, but she seemed to like everything that went on. We should be going over to their place to teach both of them later in the week.

I did another baptismal interview this week, for the sister's investigator. She is a sweet old lady, and she will be baptized on Saturday.

So other than that, it has been the regular day to day grind. But we are very grateful and optimistic about our two new investigators, and it's really nice to have a couple that you are really optimistic about to keep you happy and excited.

I appreciate the advice that you gave at the end of your letter dad, and I'll try to do that. It actually hasn't been too hard, usually on Mondays I think about school and basketball and stuff a lot, then by Tuesday morning I forget about it all.

My tooth feels good, it doesn't hurt at all.

The schedule looks good. Thank you for doing that.

I don't know about who I will room with, I'll probably just tell you in March if that's okay. There is zone conference March 13, so I'll make a decision by then. If I know earlier I'll let you know.

Ok I think that's it. Love you all, have a good week.

Elder Topham

No Greater Joy

This week was pretty good actually. We were finally able to pick up a few new investigators. Some people actually showed up for the lessons. We got one from our street contacts, one through a member that we have been working with and one through former investigators who we have been calling. Hopefully they will all continue to want to meet and will want to do something. That is the other problem that we have been having with investigators. They just don't really want to do anything. They are good guys and don't mind talking to us, but there is no real desire to know more or find out for themselves.

When we met with the inactive family this week who got offended by the anti Mormon stuff, she agreed to let us take the boy with us to church if he wanted to go. He did, so on Sunday morning we rode out there, then rode the bus with him to church. It was cool because we got to hang out with him on the bus and at sacrament meeting, a lot of people at church were really happy to see him. And there were a couple kids in primary his age that he made really good friends with it seems like.

The sisters had a baptism this week. So I got to do the baptismal interview for that. It was remarkably better than my first baptism interview experience. And it was nice to not have to be nervous about not understanding their answers this time. She was baptized on Friday and it was a really good service. The speaker who was supposed to give the baptism talk canceled last minute so I ended up doing that.

On Saturday I was in the center on exchanges with Elder Jones. The center of Krasnoyarsk is really cool. They have really nice classy buildings and tons of statues and fountains. They have speakers lining the streets and they usually play old school 50's or 60's American music or like jazz music and stuff. Basically all of left bank is really nice, but it's all good because most of the members live on right bank where I am.

Well I think here is my answer to your question: And really I'm going to give the same answer to both of the questions. The hardest and most rewarding thing about being a full time missionary is that it is exactly what the name implies "full time". It is such a sacrifice and very hard to devote 100% of your time and efforts to the Lord. From the second you wake up you start praying about the people you will teach or hope to find and all day you think about others and do things for others, never anything for yourself. It is very hard to work all day every day especially when there are hardships and little success, because really there is no break. Maybe an hour or 2 on P-day but that things flies by faster than you know it. But on the other hand this is also the most rewarding thing. It is such a blessing to only have to worry about one thing. Just doing missionary work, at home you have many things to think about but on the mission its just one goal. So especially when those rays of success pierce the darkness, it is so bright and so amazing the absolute happiness and sense of accomplishment that you feel because you have been putting all your energy into one goal and you did it. Also the feeling that you get when you worked hard all day, and you get home, you can feel the love of the Lord. And if feels like you just did a really hard workout and now you just feel satisfied with what you have done. And I think there is no greater joy that seeing somebody truly change their life and come unto Christ and to know that you played a part in that. So it is well worth it.

Ok that's all I got. Love you mom.

Elder Topham

First is us and the sister missionaries at a members house. We gave her a blessing and she made us a little food.

 Me with a member and investigator. That is in the garage where they are working on building an ATV. That is where we taught the last lesson.



Me with Chubirashka and Crocadile Ghena. They are two famous Soviet cartoon characters.

 

The Bright Side

Hey everyone, how's it going.

I don't think I really have too much to say this week. Nothing exciting happened. We just kind of had our usual stuff that we do, some meetings with members and some less active members. We had tons of investigators lessons set up throughout the week but they all fell through except for one. And even that one, the only reason it worked out was because he was at the member's house anyway playing computer games. We worked really hard this week trying to find new investigators. We spent a lot of time contacting and tracting and the thing is that it all seemed to be pretty successful. We would get plenty of lessons set up but they just fell through every single time. Usually we would call to remind them and they would cancel for whatever reason. Sometimes they wouldn't answer our calls and just not show up at the time they agreed for. Or when we go to their house at the time we agreed on they wouldn't be home or they were home and just say, "We're too busy right now." So anyway that has been really frustrating and discouraging to be putting so much work and prayer into achieving our goal, and it never works out. I haven't been discouraged like this since last winter. At least this time I'm happier, maybe because I'm more used to it now and don't get discouraged by the language. (Although now I can understand all the rude things they say.) Also I'm glad I've got Elder J. He just keeps on going and has continued to be a hard worker. So I've been feeling good with the work we have been putting in each day, its just always disappointing to see no results.

On the bright side an inactive man who we have been visiting came to church for the first time in 2 years.

We are starting a push to use family history to try to introduce people to the church.

When I was eating a sandwich I thought I chipped my back molar. On further inspection it looks like a filling came off. It doesn't hurt so I'll wait to do anything till I get to America unless it starts to hurt.

Well that's really all I can think of. I can't think of anything else I need for my birthday. I won't be here for very long after that and then I can just get whatever I need in America.

So the deal with the mission goal. The goal is to get 100 baptisms in the year. But each district is supposed to make their own shorter time, more specific goal based on their needs. So ours is new investigators by the March transfer.

Elder Topham

The zone leaders brought some mail this week. So I got your Christmas card, a letter from Matt, and a Christmas card from Aunt January.

This weekend was really cool because President, the Zone Leaders and the Assistants all came to Krasno. They are traveling around the mission doing a training presentation in every city. Then President interviewed all of the missionaries. The training was really epic. It was this amazing thing about goal setting. I can't really describe it all in the email, but it was something that looked more like an official business presentation, President killed it. Then of course in the last part of the training he killed it spiritually, uplifting everyone and everything. The whole district is really pumped, our big goal now is regarding finding new investigators and I'm really excited about it. President also did a similar presentation to the ward council and now they have a goal of increasing the number of active Priesthood holders. The big emphasis on the presentation was about the execution of the goal and what you have to do to make sure it gets accomplished.

The interview with president was also good as always and really inspiring. He gave me Hebrews 11 and 12 as the theme of the rest of my mission. He talked about all of the sports analogies in chapter 12 and it was really personal and inspiring.

I felt like the week went well. We were really busy and it seemed like we achieved a lot. I met with the Branch President and we got more than 100 names off the branch list of people that no longer live there. We had many meetings with in- and less-active members. Two of whom came to church.

The disappointing part is with the investigators. Nothing at all worked out this week. I feel bad for Elder J and hope he is not getting discouraged about that. Because this is one of the busier more successful, happier times of my mission as I feel. It's just because of other things that have been going on, while our investigator pool is dismal. I'm really excited about the district new investigator goal and I think the focused energy on that will help us change that problem.

Ok I think that's all I got. It's getting really cold again. Last week was really warm, but that was short lived.

Have a good week.

Elder Topham