Letter From Zach!

Dear Family,

Unfortunately, the internet cafe that we use (loving dubbed "The Dungeon" by missionaries) does not allow for uploading pictures.  Thus in order to convince you that I am not lying in a ditch after a mafia hit or deported to Siberia to waste away in a gulag, I've decided to send you some pictures. 

Elder Stegeby and I looking strangely photo shopped in front of the "Academy of the People of Russia" in the park VDNKH.

 Just a standard Moscow morning.  I got just about everything in Moscow in one shot: clouds, a Orthodox temple, millions of tram lines, thick traffic, weird stop lights, and a woman wearing a fur hat.

Remember when I told you about the bright moon?  Well this is a picture of that.  I keep showing it to people and telling them that I took a picture of a UFO and they always say: "Where?!  I just see the moon."  ......OK

When I got sick I forgot to shave for 31/2 days of house confinement.  Hello beard!

A cool (no pun intended) shot from the top of a parking garage.

Laser tag with the district on "Pandora" left to right: Sister Joliey, Me, Elder Olsen, Elder Jenkes, Elder Steele and Sister Isenhauer: Photographer.

Giant nesting dolls at the New Moscow Compiego.  Welcome to my abode.

At VDNKH with the giant R4 rocket.

At VDNKH park.  Space the final frontier!

Well I hope you like those!

~As Always,

Elder Zachery E. Brasier

Four Winds Leveling The Pines

Dear Family and Loyal Blog Readers,

Well another week has passed. Another sunny week strangely enough. The sun has been shining nearly all weak and today is a balmy 0 degrees Celsius. That means that the sun is starting to melt the snow, which also means that a winters worth of liter has been finally exposed to the sunlight. The street crews need to get to that sometime soon. But, it seems as though the winter is on its downward spiral. I'm knocking on wood right now to make sure that I'm not cursing myself in anyway.

So missionary work.. how is it? Good. This week we had two lessons with Wu-tao. Unfortunately Mike couldn't come to translate for us. Google Translate go! Google worked pretty well for us, even though some cynical people might think that Google doesn't translate well, it sure speaks better Chinese than I do! Our lessons went well. We talked about eternal families and showed him a ton of pictures of temples. He loved the temples, and literally snatched our iPod out of our hands when he saw a picture of the Washington DC temple. According to Wu-tao (and this will make my parents happy) this is the most beautiful of all the temples. Thus, things are going great with him. We are just waiting for his wife to come back from China until we set a date with him.

Our other investigators are doing great too. We are teaching a man named Sasha who is a super humble guy who is also spiritually minded. On our first meeting he told us that he believes that Joseph Smith was the prophet for our day and that the Book of Mormon is revelation in our times. Yeah, we really like to hear things like that. He still has some concerns, but he really is doing very well, and even came to church!

This week I also became part of what seemed to me to be a spy story. On Tuesday, a man from Smolensk came into our central meeting building asking to see missionaries. Since I was the only one in close proximity who had served in Smolensk I got called in. The man tells us quite the story, which I clandestinely took notes of, and asks us for quite the sum of money to get him on his feet. We could not do anything about this, since we are as poor as the next person so I called a member of our ward bishopric. He calls us back in a few minutes and gives us the number of an American named Grand. I call the number, explain the situation, and he tells me to tell our Smolensk friend to meet him at a certain metro stop at a certain time. I definitely felt like I was in a spy story. Then a few days later, Grand calls us and tells us that if this man from Smolensk tries to call us ever again, we shouldn't speak with him. Rather we should refer the Smolensk man to Grand, and he'll take care of it. Only later did I find out that Grand had a stake calling to deal with these situations, but nonetheless, I felt like I was in a spy story.

I recently wrote a letter to a friend where I listed every single nationality that I have met on my mission, and was really amazed at all the different people I have met. I've come to realize that the gospel doesn't really care about borders. It is jumping over fences and crossing property lines to get to all the Earth. We are teaching a Chinese man. We can not legally preach in his country, yet he is learning about the gospel in his native tongue. Truly the Lord has set his hand to gather his elect from the four corners of the Earth. I am always grateful, yet at times overwhelmed to realize that the Lord has called me to participate in this great and final gathering. I am truly blessed to see the prophesies of God unfold before my eyes.

Well, that is all I have to write today. I hope you all have a great week.

As Always,

Elder Zachery E. Brasier

P.S. In an unexpected turn of events, my MTC teacher, Jared Porter is now in Moscow with his expecting wife teaching English. I kind of tripped out when I first saw him, now I see him quite frequently.

Meteor Blasts, Missng Chinese Investigators and Drunk men punching cars... A Day in the Life

Dear Family and Loyal Blog Readers,

 

Just to ease everybodies mind, the meteor that recently fell on Russia did not hit anywhere near where we live. Actually I wasn't even aware that we had a meteor strike until Sunday. So don't worry, everything is alright with us, the only thing that effected us was what some people believe to be a change in weather pattern due to the meteor. No interstellar disasters have befallen us!

 

To follow the order of the title of this e-mail, we finally found Wu-Tao (by that way, that is how you spell his name. I've been doing it wrong for quite some time now and thus I want to set the record straight.) On Tuesday we went to his apartment, and found out that he wasn't there. We asked a neighbor (who spoke English and has been to Sweden) if she had seen him and she said no. More than a little worried, we left a note and went back to our apartment. When we got home I realized that we had gotten 3 missed calls from an unknown number. I called back and asked (in Russian) if that person had called us. I heard back in broken English: "Uh yes.. you are.. church?" I was so excited I almost dropped the phone and started talking way to quickly in English with out even introducing myself. Poor guy was probably so confused. Come to find out he had just had got a new number. So we met, had an awesome lesson, he taught me some Chinese words and things are back to normal.

 

Earlier that day we had an interesting experience. Elder Stegeby and I had made a goal as a companionship to look for more ways to offer simple service during the week, in order to live more like disciples of Jesus Christ. After district meeting we walked out of the senior couple's apartment and saw a drunk man slumped against the door with a poor old lady trying to help him up. We offered to help and take him to the Metro. The guy was so drunk he could barely talk or walk, but once we started talking to him he told us that he likes to fight and knows how to do MMA or something. To demonstrate, he put Elder Stegeby in a head lock. After I pried him off of Elder Stegeby, he decided to show his strength by punching a car, and then gave me a big hug. It was pretty weird. He ended up deciding that he didn't need the Metro, but none the less we were glad that we at least tried to help.

 

Otherwise, this week we have been working hard to find new investigators, and as always, the Lord blesses us when we make righteous goals. We have had the oppurtunity to find and teach some great new people who are really prepared to hear the gospel. In short, things went pretty well this week.

 

I realize that I haven't really mentioned much about our P-Days. Usually I just assume that the pictures I send will cover that topic, but since the internet cafe we use doesn't really allow for SD cards, I haven't been able to. So here are some things that we have done recently.

 

- Toured VDNKh- This is a park in the middle of Moscow that has huge Soviet buildings and a momument to the astronauts and a big Vostok-K rocket, the same that Yuri Gagarin rode into space. So that was pretty exciting to see. We also rode the huge Ferris wheel at the park, and Elder Stegeby and I tried to shake the coupula as much as possible, just to add a little more thrill to the experience.

 

- Ate at a Chinese Buffet- Mike (from Taiwan) invited us to come with him to his favorite Chinese buffet. He says that it is the most like what they eat in China and what his mom makes. It was super good. I tried everything, including fried chicken feet (surprisingly good) and spiced liver (terrible). Since the Chinese workers there realized we were Americans, they gave us forks, but I asked specifically for chop sticks, and felt really pretentiously cool about it.

 

- Got addicted to laser tag- Recently we found a sweet laser tag place. Essentially, we became addicted to it. Last transfer we played every other week. Today that is what we did. This is always a great way to get out pent up energy, and we get a student discount if we show our student ID. Good thing they don't care if your a student in America or Russia and deferred for missionary service!

 

Yep, so that is just about all I've got. The work is really progressing here in Russia. A few days ago we heard from a non-Mormon American that every time he tells people that he is American the people assume he is Mormon, especially in the big cities with missionaries. I guess that we are doing a pretty decent job getting our message out to the people.

 

Take luck, live long and prosper,

 

As always,

Elder Zachery E. Brasier

Slightly More Scandinavian

Dear Family and Loyal Blog Readers,

In a slightly karmic book end approach to the times, I am once again serving with Elder Stegeby, my MTC companion from Sundsvall, Sweden. We have been really enjoying each others company, catching up on old times and trying to progress the work. I really have enjoyed my time with him already because it has given me an unique opportunity to reflect upon my mission thus far and appreciate where I have been and where I am going. The difference between now and then is very obvious, and during our planning sessions and teaching, the power and ability that we have both learned to command has come forth, demonstrating to me the difference between my current self and the one that left the MTC all those months ago. Interesting times indeed.

 

The week itself was exciting but also disappointing in a way. None of our investigators could meet with us. This is not a hyperbole! Literally none of our current investigators could meet with us! Thus, we had a lot of time to go contacting, but I would have much preferred meeting with investigators. Also, Utao has disappeared. His phone is off and we haven't seen him in a while. We will be trying to find him at his apartment soon. I have been really worried about him. I hope that nothing has happened.

 

Even though we have had no contact with our investigators this week, miracles continue to occur. I will share one with you. Yesterday we went had a appointment with a lady in our ward name Irina. She has a really crazy family situation which would probably take up much to much space to write down. The bishop asked us to make weekly visits to her so that she has priesthood in her house, and because she loves the missionaries. Usually she feeds us (which is pretty rare) and this time was no exception. As we were talking afterwards she started talking about the miracles that occur in her life, and how one occurred that day. She told us that she had really wanted to prepare food for us but wasn't able to go shopping on Saturday so she had no groceries. Concerned, she went to church, paid her tithing and went home to find her neighbour waiting at her door with some extra groceries for Irina! Irina was able to have enough groceries and make the missionaries something to eat. This was such a clear example of how the Lord cares about the little things in our lives and will make these small miracles occur for our betterment. Being apart of things like that help me to remember "how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men." (Moroni 10:3) It is also a testimony of Irina's faith and dedication that she still made us something to eat with the food that she had obtained in a pretty miraculous manner.

 

On Tuesday this week we went to a classical concert in a really sweet theatre. Every quarter President has authorized us to go to a cultural event, and thus we decided to go to a concert. It was so great! The guest artist was a 16 year old piano prodigy who destroyed the piano (in as flattering a way possible) during some Liszt piano pieces and performed super well in a Saint-Saen concerto. I realized how much I love classical music. The concert was the place for me and also for our fighter pilot gospel doctrine teacher Brother Fadaev. He was there too.

 

And to finish, a little bit of closure. Elder Jewkes was made the Assistant to President this transfer and is now responsible to travel across the mission. He called me this morning to tell me that he had been in Ryazan this weekend and had met Anton, the man we baptised right before I left. He is active, wears a shirt and tie to church, and is ordained to the priesthood and is actively fulfilling his duties. I was so happy! It is hard to describe how good it feels to know that somebody you taught and prayed for and worked with is continuing how he began and is letting the gospel of Jesus Christ change his life. It was certainly great news.

 

Well that's all I've got! Have a great week.

 

As Always,

Elder Zachery E. Brasier

Transfer Time Again!

Well everybody it is transfer time once again. And also just so you know the computer I am using has a problem with the space bar i.e. it barely works, and thus it is quite difficult to type, so please forgive me if this is slightly shorter than I usually write.

 

So last Monday right after I got done writing President Sorenson called with transfers. As I sort of expected, Elder Steele will be leaving the area and I will be receiving a new companion that I know very well from past experience. On Thursday I will be receiving Elder Stegeby, my old MTC companion! I am super excited since we are good friends and most importantly since we have both been on our missions for a long time so we both have similar outlooks and abilities in concern with missionary work. I'm excited to tear it up in Sokolniki with Elder Stegeby. Really though, it is quite interesting that I am nearing the end of my mission with the very same companion that I started with.

In regards to our investigators things are going well. We once again had a really good lesson with U-tau. We watched a video about Jesus Christ and talked about it. As we were talking (well as Mike was translating what we were saying) I suddenly had the idea that U-tau really didn't understand what the word "atonement" meant, which we were just liberally using with little explanation. So we asked U-tau if he understood what to word meant and in English he emphatically responded: "No!" which lead to a wonderful discussion with him. U-tau is one of my favorite investigators that I have had on my mission. He is so nice and humble. We can barely communicate with each other because of the language barrier, but I've really grown to love this guy. Many people think that it is easy to just love all the investigators that you teach. I mean you teach them right? But sometimes you really have to work on having Christlike love for investigators who either don't progress or don't seem interested. Maybe I'm just a bad missionary, but some investigators really force me to develop charity, which is a great experience. With U-tau however, I felt like we were friends from when we first met, and I think I am more aware with him than with investigators feelings of charity and care for his salvation. I love when you are teaching an investigator and you get to the point where it is just like talking to a friend and it is easy to feel genuine concern for their welfare and you truly realize that they are children of God in a deep and spiritual sense. Sometimes you have to work on that, but sometimes you don't, and I feel really blessed to be teaching U-tau. Ok so I just rambled a while, but that is something I have really been thinking about and understanding more and more over the last few weeks. That is one thing I love about my mission, is that it is such a trial ground for the developing of Christlike attributes that could never be developed in such short a time. Right now I am learning a lot about charity and love, and building on what I have learned before.

 

Russia is getting pretty warm right now. Some of the snow is melting, but I don't trust any signs of early spring. I already lived through one winter so I know how Russia plays these nasty tricks! As it gets warmer though, the people are getting warmer as well, and it is getting easier to contact and find people. Other than that, business is pretty usual here in Russia. We've been hearing a lot about the Olympics lately as that starts to wind up. It is pretty funny, a lot of people don't have a real positive outlook on the Sochi games. Most people point out that Russia hasn't really developed good customer service and a few other negative aspects that they think will ruin the games. That may just be general pessimism, but it has been fun to hear peoples opinions about the games.

 

Right now we are all praying that the stake will get its own meeting house like in America. Right now we use a big former office building, but the stake leaders are trying to get permits to build an actual church building with a spire and everything. I think it is so cool that we are getting close to this important step and in nearly every prayer at the church meeting this is mentioned. I love the faith of the members. There is no doubt in their minds that God will answer their prayers and make this miracle happen.

 

Well that is all for today. Feel free to ask any Russia related questions, I like answering them. Have a great week!

 

As always,

Elder Zachery E. Brasier

 

P.S. A few days ago I saw a house pretty much explode while on splits in the suburbs of Moscow. It was on fire and then this huge fireball erupted and took down a bunch of the building. We were at the rail station and just as that happened our commuter train came, so we didn't see how that worked out! It was insane though.

 

Zach's District