Turn a card for my life.

Dear Family and Loyal Blog Readers,

It is a beautiful time in Russia! The sun is gone, the days are warm, but not blazing hot like the summer, people are out on the streets and much happier, and most of the museums are open. I love the spring time in Russia! I actually really enjoy being on the streets contacting because the weather is so nice and now we can start hitting the parks because people actually walk in the them (interestingly enough the park near our apartment, Sokolniki park actually plays Kings of Convenience, a Swedish band, on the loud speakers from time to time. It really shocked me.) Really, it is just a good time to be in Russia, and these last few weeks of my mission are shaping up to be some of the best.

Well the investigators are going well. We met with Wu-Tao a lot today to start teaching him the commandments. The lessons are going great with him, and now Mike can help us once again, so my life is becoming slightly more Chinese, for the better. Wu-Tao is super awesome. He is such a great example from me and I learn so much from him. Sometimes I learn Chinese from him. He says that my tones are pretty good.

Also in the international department we had a lesson with a South African protestant missionary this week. It was a break up lesson. He wanted to meet with us to tell us that he doesn't want to meet with us. Unfortunate, but I was really appreciative of the fact that he sat down and told us why he wasn't interested instead of just disappearing or blocking our calls. He knows the classy way to break up with your friendly neighborhood Mormon missionaries.

Vladimir is continuing to do well. He asks a ton of good questions, and I am really glad that I finished reading the Bible cover to cover not too long ago. He loves when we use Biblical scriptures to teach the doctrine, which I enjoy too. It is kind of like friendly Bible bashing, but the other person actually accepts what we are talking about. Last week we had a lesson about the apostasy and after I explained some details he looked at me and said; "Do you mean that [random revival preacher] does not have the fullness of the gospel?" I looked him strait in the eye and said; "Yes." He responded: "And you are telling me that your church is the full restored gospel." Again, I answered simply: "Yes." and then he just sat there and looked at me and eventually started laughing and carrying on about how "cool" we are. I can't really convey how that felt, but I love being able to really simply and boldly declare the doctrine and look somebody in the eye and tell them what you know without a doubt in your mind. It is a thrill, and I love when the Spirit is with us and the timing is right and everything works out. I really love teaching people about the gospel.

Before the Vladimir lesson of which I was talking occurred a funny thing happened. We walked up to his apartment and this little kid was sitting in front of it holding a toy gun. He pointed at us and yelled: "AGENTS!" I laughed and smiled at the boy. He followed us into the apartment and asked really quietly: "Are you agents?" I spun around, looked at him and said really softly: "No, just normal people, now go play..." The kid definitely heard my accent and definitely did not believe me. After the lesson as we exited the apartment the kid was still sitting there and yelled to all his friends: "LOOK ITS THE AGENTS!!!" A walked by as he kept yelling that and then suddenly turned around and stared at him for a good 10 seconds with the most steely eyed look I could muster. Oh man, you should have seen how wide his eyes got! Funny times...

And one more thing. Since the weather is getting better the gypsies are coming out again. They like to go on the Metro and play accordion songs and beg for money. I don't necessarily like gypsies, but the entertainment is nice. However yesterday we made the big mistake of watching one play and we ended up getting chased down the wagon of the train with this gypsy poking Elder Kelly and asking him for money. Blasted gypsies.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I really appreciated them. Have a great week everybody, enjoy the spring weather!

As Always,
Elder Zachery E. Brasier