This is What You Need

Well maybe I'll start with Thanksgiving... It was awesome!  We were at the mission home from 2 until 9.  It was supposed to be from 2 till 7, but Sister Gibbons, with little resistance, was able to convince President to let us stay longer.  There was tons of food, way more than enough because there were quite a few missionaries there too.  Sister Gibbons, and the two senior couple sisters all cooked. Elder Hyde and I made some cookies and brought some ice cream.. the cookies were good but lame compared to the other desserts, so nobody really ate them.  But the ice cream was very useful to have with the pies.  So we kinda relaxed for a while before dinner. Then after dinner, President wanted us to watch a movie together and he chose one that is, I guess, a family tradition for him called Holiday Inn with Bing Crosby.  I don't know if I would have liked it much in my pre-mission days, but it was awesome! 1- because it was a movie, 2- because it was good, and 3- because it had some very politically incorrect parts that were hilarious, and because of Presidents reaction because I think he had forgotten that those parts were in there, and was kinda regretting showing it, but we had fun. Then he let us pick one, and everybody picked Tangled, which is a solid one too. Also, keeping in mind how every movie is 100x better on the mission, so it was amazing.  So anyway, it didn't really feel like a traditional thanksgiving, probably because it was with different people, and no fried turkey, no waking up early to watch Sam go run, no watching football, and so on. But it was amazing, and it did wonders to recharge the batteries and lift the spirits.

So the AP's are actually in a threesome now which is odd, but cool because they are able to split off with other companionships a lot.  Elder Stuart, the older one who goes home next transfer whom i really respect, spent a day with us and it was awesome.  I learned a lot from him.  

This next week we have a leadership training meeting for all the DLs ZLs APs and trainers, so that will be awesome to hear from President again and to see some friends that I haven't seen for a while.  And the ZLs are going on exchanges with us tomorrow so we'll see how that goes.  It's really cool to have a lot of different things shaking up the schedule.

This was cool, our little miracle for the week.  We found a piece of paper from one of our old English club activities with a question on the bottom that asks if they would like to know more about the church, and a guy had checked yes. But there was only an address, so we found the apartment in a sketchy neighborhood, and nobody was there so we left a note and the guy actually came to the next English club, found me, and said he would definitely be at church then came to church! haha It was incredible.   So we'll see what happens there, he doesn't have a phone, and he said it wasn't a good idea for us to go to that neighborhood so we'll see.

This was cool too.  There was a baptism on Saturday. We were there and there was a senior couple who serves in Moscow as auditors. They came in for a mission tour, and were there and they needed someone to show them back to the metro and he actually wanted to buy something, so we took him to a store and then they offered to take us to lunch, so we went to Carl's Jr. and it was awesome! They paid for it and it was just sweet, you don't understand how awesome that stuff is until you are out here. haha

Thanks again for the Christmas package Mom.  I'm still enjoying it, it's amazing. The toffee actually tastes like home.  I actually feel like I'm sitting on the black chair watching football, or that I'm sitting in a folding chair next to the fire working on the puzzle.  It's amazing how vivid those memories are, remembering smells, sounds, emotions everything. It's really sweet.

We are still kinda struggling with investigators.  We had 3 first meetings all "pose us the rabbit" as Rob would say.  Two of them had been confirmed on the phone, one of those only 2 hours before the meeting.  Ilya hasn't answered our calls, but Dennis has.  He said he read all of 1st Nephi, but he said something along the lines that he wasn't really feeling it like we do and he called and set up an appointment to "give us our book back" so we'll see about him tonight. The meeting with Aleksei was pretty intense, he wouldn't even let us pray at the beginning, much less offer it himself.  He kept trying to change the subject during the lesson,  but I said, "Aleksei you need to hear this, this is what you need, listen to me for five minutes without interrupting."  It sounds meaner in writing than it actually was, but we have a good relationship so he took it well, listened and after we read Alma 7:11-13

 11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and ^aafflictions and ^btemptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will ^ctake upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

 12 And he will take upon him ^adeath, that he may ^bloose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to ^csuccor his people according to their infirmities.

 13 Now the Spirit ^aknoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the ^bflesh that he might ^ctake upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

he said "Wow, those verses really touched me" and he let us pray at the end and committed to read the chapter.  It was a big turnaround in one meeting, but he has a long way to go and it will probably be a slow process but he'll get there. Those verses have become some of and maybe my absolute favorites. 

Well stuff's still moving a lot, I haven't frozen yet. I've learned its all about the shoes, scarf, hat and gloves, it's not really your body that gets cold. We are probably going to Carl's again today with all the missionaries. 

I'll attach some pictures. I hope this is "Russian missionary enough" to give you a few options for your card if it's not too late and there will be some at the zoo. They had some white tigers there too which was cool, felt like home.  It's still not cold enough for the big coat, but I did wear a shopka in some of these. 

Love

Elder Topham

Here are 3 "generations" of missionaries: Elder Drasso, Hyde and I after zone conference

 Russian missionary picture

 me almost being eaten by a dino at the zoo.... only in Russia do they have dinosaurs at zoos

Elder Harrison and I at the zoo with the polar bear

me installing some kind of clothes line thing for a handicapped member

I couldn't resist when I saw this billboard for an "american pub"

Magnifying Glass for the Savior

Hey Mom! and everybody else.  This week was really cool. 

So I'll start at zone conference. It was kind of like a turning point of the week and probably much more than that.  First, Sister Lawrence spoke a lot in detail about tribes of Israel and lineage and patriarchal blessings, which you know I've always been really interested in and it was amazing and mind blowing, especially because it was specific to Russia.  It's amazing, almost ever single member here is from one of the lost 10 tribes.  And she spoke about Israelite blood - it was just awesome. Then President Gibbons spoke and this was by far my favorite.  He said he wrote a talk to give to the zone conferences, then 2 nights ago on the train he felt he should talk about something else and wrote a talk for that, and was going to decide right then which one to give. Then he said, "But now feel like I shouldn't give either," and he just started talking about a totally different subject.  It was amazing because I'm sure it applied to other people there, but I really feel like he was talking directly to me the whole time and saying exactly what I needed to hear.  He addressed his remarks to those of us who feel like we have a burden and a task that we seem just too small to handle right now.  He talked about the miracle of the loaves and fishes and Nephi building a ship, and about how we can use our talents and everything we have as a magnifying glass for the savior to work miracles.  It was incredible.  It was exactly what I needed to hear and totally changed my attitude and lifted my spirits.  It just really hit me hard spiritually, and obviously I cried.  But anyway,  then President Lawrence from the Europe East Area presidency spoke about how we can really show faith in order to receive blessings and success.

Anyway, Elder Hyde and I in the next planning session were really pumped up and set a really good goal, and I've created a plan of exactly what we need to do to reach it. Since then it's been really awesome, first just with this one thing very specific to work for, and to pray for, it's really easy to stay motivated and spirits have been really high, and it's been really fun, and my faith has definitely increased.

So there's a lot of snow, but it doesn't hinder travel. They clear the roads alright and the sidewalks are just slippery, but not like piled with snow.

We are probably going to the zoo this afternoon, so that will be fun.  Last week I took that long nap, the week before that we went shopping at the rinok, and before that we played ping pong at the branch and the sisters made brownies.  So that's been the last few p-days.

So the last few days have been really good. We had Elder Hyde's first investigator meeting on Saturday, and we have a few set up for next week.

Thanksgiving we get to go to the mission home from 2-7. Sister Gibbons is cooking turkey, potatoes, and stuffing. Missionaries are supposed to bring salads, sides, and desserts, so I'll have to think of something haha! but its going to be awesome.

So this first investigator meeting-  definitely another miracle.  I've actually come to the conclusion that any time we find an investigator it's a miracle.  Anyway, so this guy Ilya -  I looked back in my journal and found that I actually contacted him on my second full day here, with Elder Drasso.  I asked him if he spoke English just as a starter, and was surprised to hear "Yeah,  what's up, I lived in California for a couple years."  So anyway, we had a nice little convo with him and got his number.  We tried to bring up the gospel but it didn't really work, so we just called him a little later to come to English Club and he was busy, and stuff and things kinda just didn't work out for a while and he kinda fell off our minds anyway.  Two weeks ago Elder Hyde and I walked by him in the middle of a street we were both crossing going opposite directions. We were on the way to do email, and we recognized each other after a second of thinking, "Wait, I know this guy," and as we were walking by only had enough time to say hey, and give a little wave.  Then... same thing happened the next week! same exact place! and I didn't see him till he passed by and it was the same little surprised "oh hey." I was kicking myself for not turning around and following him back to the other side of the street, and talking more, but I didn't think about it in the moment.  Anyway, that night we just called him, and were like "Hey,  that's crazy we keep seeing each other in the same place... so do you want to meet some time and we can tell you a little about our church and how it can help you?"  And he's just like "sure". So boom investigator meeting! I called him a couple hours before the meeting and he's like "yeah I remember, is it cool if I bring my friend Dennis."  Sure! So, boom two investigators.  We taught a good discussion.  Not amazing but good. The spirit was definitely there.  They both committed to read, pray and talk to us again, but weren't just like all over it, so we'll see.  It was just a really cool experience.

Oh and Aleksei finally answered my call and said we can come talk to him this week! So we'll see about that, too.  Sergei is still saying he has no time, which is kinda true because he's getting married on December 31.

I've just been feeling really good the last few days. Elder Hyde and I have been getting along really well, we've been working hard and it's been really fun, and we are very optimistic.

Love you Mom, 

Elder Topham

It's Not Too Cold

Hello,

Well this week things have just kind of been plugging along. We are still struggling to find new investigators, so we have been spending a lot of time contacting and just trying to find people, it's been tough, but it's not too cold or anything. It's chilly out there, but it's fine if you just kinda dress up for it. I tried wearing my big coat one day, but it's still too heavy for the weather right now, so I've been fine with a light sweater and just that rain jacket. Really the most important things are the hat gloves and scarf, oh and boots, I think if you have all of those on you feel warm no matter what.

Oh, I got both packages This Week! How funny is that, you send them at different times, but I always get them at the same time. Oh well, it was just doubly as exciting and fun to open them and it really gave me a big boost to my spirits that day. Thanks for the first package! We've been listening to that Christmas CD the last couple days and it's awesome. Then I opened up the Christmas package and wow! There was a ton of toffee and hot chocolate in there. Thank you so much! Everything was intact except for one of the plastic containers of hot chocolate cracked and spilled in the box. But it's okay, because I think most of it was still in the box and able to be salvaged.

I've gotten sick the last couple days. It's not bad, but it's been draining me, so I'm going to go home and sleep for the rest of p-day. Then hopefully I'll get better soon.

There are some pretty exciting things coming up. Zone conference is this week and that will be awesome. Then Thanksgiving will be at the mission home, and I'll be doing exchanges with the elders in my district, so I'm really excited for all of that.

Not much has happened that's exciting this week... sorry. I'm going to retry those pictures from a couple weeks ago. Some will be on the island in Finland, one will be with our kind of investigator, Sergei.Hope those pictures worked. I have a couple more minutes. So I don't know exactly what to write about, you said you like hearing little day to day details. English club is really fun for me. 2nd group (the one I run) has like 20 people in it. Last time we had them split into groups, make up a movie plot and present it to the class. Before that, we acted like it was a rinok and they had to argue prices with us in English. Tell you what, that is much more fun than doing it in Russian. But it's cool. Some stay for the spiritual thought, but not many are really interested in anything, so I don't know. President said he wants us to cut down on our English club time, so everyone is only going to be going once a week now, so oh well. I really like it, we have gotten some first meetings out of it in the past.

Don't worry I'm staying warm.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finland

Novosibirsk

A Long Way to Go

So this week has been really crazy. My new comp is Elder Hyde. He's from American Fork. He has a very strong desire to work hard and is willing to do anything so that's really good.


It's been tough with just the two of us because of our limited language abilities, but I expect to be getting better fast, I hope so at least. It's hard to describe how far along I am, but I am much better than 3 months ago, but have a long way to go.


We don't have any progressing investigators so that is our main problem. Aleksei finally got out of the hospital, but the night he got home, his house caught on fire in the middle of the night and it destroyed one of the rooms and the entire roof. We went over to visit and offer to help, but he said he didn't need any except a lawyer (the fire was supposedly started by someones fireworks) and he didn't want to even hear our message. and said something like "my thoughts are not going to be turned to God or the Book of Mormon now." It was extremely sad. Elder Drasso and I didn't say a word the whole mashrootka ride home, and even when we got home I just sat there for a few minutes. It killed me, we've had too many miracles with him and our relationship is too good for it to just end like that, so it's tough...


So we need to find new investigators, but it's tough and nobody wants to talk to us really. We get some conversations on the street and even members every once in a while, so hopefully we'll have some first meetings this week but we'll see.


We didn't do anything on Halloween, but apparently they carved pumpkins together on the p-day when I was in Finland.


So here's another fun story. My first night as district leader there was a "crisis." The snig elders who live about an hour away from the center lent their keys for the branch to the sisters and forgot to get them back and at 9:30 they get home and find out their apartment keys are in the center with the sisters. So the solution was pretty simple, they just had to come spend the night with us, who are nearest to them, and they could get to a home before 10:30, it was actually kind of exciting to solve a crisis on the first night on the job. And our first district meeting was really good too. The APs and office couple were there. We do them at the office couple's apartment and they feed us a marvelous meal every time. So it was really easy to get input from people and it just went really well. I just had to ask a few open ended questions.


Elder Topham

Changes

So this last week has been really crazy with our first trip to Finland and we found out transfers.  So basically the only thing that will not change is that I'm staying in this same area... Other than this, it's crazy.  So first, Elder Drasso is going to Baraul to finish up his mission as ZL there.  And guess who my companion is going to be... A new missionary!  Straight out of the MTC, haha.  Yeah.. that means I'm training next transfer.  That's pretty crazy because my language is still not good at all.  I'm starting to understand better, but I still don't understand a lot.  But I'm really excited, because it means both of us are going to have to learn really fast, or else we are in trouble, so I think it will help.  I just hope my kid will have a lot of energy and be okay with some mistakes/epic failures to start.  We'll see.  I know president Gibbons is really into having younger missionaries train.  It forces both missionaries to learn faster.  Elders Davis and Walker from my MTC group are also going to start training this transfer, so it's pretty crazy.  Elder Davis was trained by a 3rd transfer missionary also, but as far as anyone knows that's the first time that has ever happened in this mission.  So it's pretty scary.  So, if anyone has any advice for me on what I should do to train, or help us survive, much less be successful, I would appreciate that.

Oh yeah, I'll also be district leader for the right bank of Novo next transfer... But I'm not so worried about that.

So Finland was awesome.  It's like a magical fairly land.  It's even cleaner and nicer and the people are friendlier than Americans.  Everyone there speaks English.  And even the biggest punk looking guy would help us out and show us how to get places -  it's amazing.  We got in Monday afternoon and we left Tuesday afternoon.  The temple was closed Monday, so we had some time and we went and toured an awesome medieval fortress island right outside of Helsinki it was really cool, I'll try to send some pics.  Then the next morning we got to do a session and baptisms at the temple before we left.  We ate at a pizza buffet that night and TGI Fridays in the Moscow airport, it was really awesome to have real food.  I really can't describe how fun it was to see everyone and relax for a little bit.  It was awesome.

Definite Progress

Hey, so I'm leaving on Visa trip early tomorrow morning, which means that one of the days I'm gone is my p-day.  So I went to the Snigeri branch building tonight with Elder Walker because they have a computer and we are taking turns using it.  Sorry I didn't find out this was the plan until recently, so don't feel bad for not having your emails sent yet, it's not your fault.  I'm just sorry I can't answer any questions you have or anything until next week.  Next week's email will be much more exciting anyway because I will have experienced Finland and we will have gotten transfer calls by then.

 

So there were a few really cool things that happened this week. 

 

I went on exchanges for a day with our district leader Elder Bounous.  And it was awesome, I learned a lot, he helped me with my accent, we had a good time.  We also had a great meeting with Tamara (more details to come).  But here's the best part.  Elder Bounous is an amazing singer.  So more background.  President Gibbons called a meeting with all of the district presidencies and branch presidencies in the whole mission at his house.  So it was basically all of the strong active men in the mission almost.  He was going to discuss how they wanted to have a plan to make a stake in this mission.  And here's the best part, President wanted Elder Bounous to sing a musical number to start off the meeting, and it was on the same day as our exchange!  So I got to go too! Then after he sang, President told us we could stay and sit in on the meeting until lunch.  That was awesome because not only did we get to eat some awesome food, but we got to see what was going on.  The AP's were the only other missionaries there.  It was a super high powered intense meeting.  I wish I could have stayed there for the afternoon session too.  Basically, they are going to combine all of the districts into one super district and combine a lot of the small branches into what would meet the requirements to become wards and then the whole mission would be organized like a stake already, and they just need a few more priesthood holders before it would meet all the requirements to become a stake.  The only other one is 80% home teaching.  That seems really high to me. But I guess there's a new stipulation in the handbook that talks about home teaching can be a call if you can't visit the home.. anyway, pres spent a lot of time talking about home teaching, and there's a lot of work to do because most branches, including ours, do not have a home teaching program in place.

 

So one time when we called Aleksei recently he answered and we were talking about the Book of Mormon.  He said that some lady at the hospital saw the Book of Mormon and told him that is wasn't true and was not real scripture.  But Aleksei told us not to worry about it because she's a "simple" woman and she does not understand.  Hahaha it was hilarious. Aleksei is the best.  He's always awesome to us.

 

So this Visa trip will be interesting.  I'm the travel group leader, and I'm still not sure exactly what that means except to make sure that everyone gets back to the country and I bring all of their passports back to the office.  It was crazy, Sister Olga from the office sat me down and gave me all these crazy directions about what to do in the Moscow airport and in Finland so it will be interesting and a little stressful, but it will also be really fun. I'm excited to see everyone. 

 

They just made a new rule from the quorum of the 12, I think it applies to only the Europe East area, but I'm not sure, that no missionary can ever travel alone.  It messes up missionary work a ton, especially because we already have visa trips, so everyone in my MTC group (except the two Omsk elders who will fly directly to Moscow together) has to travel to Novo with their companion, and their companions have to stay here for two days and work with the Novo missionaries until they get back and go to their cities together, it's crazy. 

 

Oh yeah, so I was supposed to say a little more about Tamara.  She is awesome, we've been meeting with her every once in a while since my first week here.  She hadn't been to church in years and years but she is really nice and has nothing against having the missionaries over, so it was suggested that I go over there and practice teaching her the discussions.  So I have been for a while, but anyway, she has come to church for 4 out of the last 5 weeks! And last meeting she agreed to ask the branch president for a calling.  And today, I didn't even have to remind her or anything.  She even waited outside of his office until he was done talking to someone and then asked him.  She is one of the few people that I can clearly see definite progress and I can look back and feel good that we were able to help her. 

 

Well love you mom, and rest of family, sorry this will be unexpected, but no worries I'll hear from you soon!

 

Elder Topham

We Still Have A Lot of Work to Do

Hey everyone! This week has been really good.  

First before I forget I had some logistical questions for Mom.  If you could please, if it's not too hard, and don't worry about rushing it, send me everyone in the extended family's birthdays and addresses.  Also a good thing for the next package whenever it might be would be just a sheet or 2 of return address labels for letters. Maybe one sheet with the mission home address and one sheet with the pouch mail address, that would be really nice for me to have.  Elder Drasso wants the caramel corn recipe and we both say thank you very much.  We usually enjoy it during companionship study.  Also, if you could find and send me the addresses for Tom Randall and Riley Littlefield that would be great.   Also, I'm going on visa trip soon.  And I've heard from the older missionaries that its a good idea to sign up for (I'm pretty sure it's) Delta's frequent flier program, because we can just check in with that card or number every time we fly for visa trips and it really adds up I guess.  

 

OK, cool, so here's what was really good about this week.  Both of our other investigators met with us and Sergei has a baptismal date now.  I don't think I've told you about them much so I will a little now.

Elder Drasso found Sergei in Omsk and Serg said sorry I'm moving to Novo to go to college, and Elder Drasso said great so am I, so we've been teaching him sparingly ever since.  He speaks English and likes to talk to us in English before and after lessons, but we teach in Russian, so he will understand better.  He's in some kind of architecture program.  Anyway, last meeting we talked about Gospel of Christ and we worked a baptismal date out of him.  He doesn't "know" that it's true yet, but he's getting there.  His girlfriend, who it sounds like he will probably marry soon, is really anti Mormon, and he smokes, so we still have a lot of work to do, but it's moving forward so that's awesome.

Then Ruslan is our other one, his dad is Muslim, and also very anti- Mormon, so that is also tough and he is also a college student who works at a bank.  I have a special attachment to Ruslan because he was pretty much my first successful gospel contact who we got a meeting with - he's moving forward to. 

Aleksei is still in the hospital and doesn't answer our calls much.  

We are getting better at contacting, and I can get numbers pretty well now, but we are having trouble on the next step and actually getting people to agree to and come to meetings with us. So that's been our problem and that's why we haven't gotten any new investigators recently.

We've also spent some time this last week, and will this week, to contacting specifically for English club.  there is a big sign up, Halloween party, English club orientation thing in a week, and we spend a few chunks each week and all the missionaries in the city go out in street clothes with t-shirts that say "free English" and clipboards getting people signed up for English club. Hopefully it will get a bunch of new people there and we can just baptize them all.

It's been pretty warm here this last week, I'm kind of surprised.  But supposedly it gets cold here, so we'll see.  Oh, here's the worst part, they already turned on the central heating for the city, so every time we come into the apartment it feels like a sauna and we have to throw all the windows open, but after we do that its fine.  It's weird - all of the Russians always wear one layer too much of clothing, and look at us funny when we are "under dressed" but totally fine.  But funny story, that's how the former district president here met the missionaries.  His wife stopped them and asked them where their coats were, and they talked to her and ending up baptizing them.  So when it gets colder we are gonna try going out really under dressed to try to use it as a conversation starter.

I bought some boots this week, they are awesome! Fur lined, have a nice zipper on the side for convenience, they were pretty expensive, but I got them from a good quality store, and they are big enough, so I'm really happy with them, they should work really well.

So I had a really vivid memory recently about the first time, I recognized a distinct answer to one of my prayers, and I'm really happy that I didn't forget about it.  It was when I was taking my black belt test for tae kwon do, and it was at the very end and we had to break a series of boards with about 6-8 different techniques, some that I had never done before.  And if I remember right, I was practically hiding in the corner while other people volunteered. and I was crying because I was so afraid.  and Dad called me over and usually in that kind of situation he would tell me to suck it up and just get out there.  But I distinctly remember that he told me to pray and ask for the strength that I needed.  And it worked.  I don't remember exactly what happened but it was like something came over me I got like all but 2 boards in my first try and it only took me a second on those.  And I remember that Alfonso and Bernard's dad was filming it and he asked us if he could show that to his kids, because that was the most aggressive and intense he has ever seen anyone.  Just remembering that experience was a good testimony builder for me.  So when I remembered that I thought it was really cool.  And I was wondering if you remembered that, Dad.  I think you were the only one there, but I'm not sure. and I wanted to see if I remembered it right.

Well I'm still loving it out here.  I love the other missionaries and our investigators and the members.  It's been tough, but it's awesome.

-Elder Topham