Pictures!

 I drew the map of that weird guy Sergei's theories. God is an orange.

Gas mask and lightsaber

More monuments

Forward to adventure!

Our water filter

More monuments

The love bridge

 On the wall!

Contacting on the walking street.

And More Pictures!

 Elder Jewkes, Ruslan, I

 Cathedral

Street

Momument in a park

There is a bridge at the park where couples right their names on locks and lock them on the bridge, to symbolize love or something

Icicle of evil!

World War II momument

Fig!

Cathedral

PIctures!

 Basketball: Elder Jewkes, Elder Bitner, Elder Hasbuillin, Elder Mitchell, Dima, Elder Melling

Me

Crazy icicle

More ice!

A fig!

I fell.

Elder Melling, Larisa, Lera, Elder Mitchell

My anatomical diagram in English Club

Some members: Anya, Lera, Larisa

More Pictures

 On a bridge: Elders Jewkes, Melling and I

 Elder Melling (left) and Elder Jewkes

Graffiti

Elder Mitchell and an icicle we found

 Elder Jewkes confused about something

 On the train with the Belarussian singers (if you remember that story)

Elder Jewkes when his chair exploded

Left to right: Elder Jewkes, Elder Melling, me, Elder Mitchell

An astronaut and I

Pictures of Smolensk.

Graffiti!

The cathedral

Walking into the cathedral

 Crazy bird lady!

Elder Jewkes and the cathedral

Me and Ruslan

One of the few Catholic Cathedrals in Smolensk

Graveyard at said cathedral

A man on a boom picking ice off of the roof

Передай Привет

Dear Family and Loyal Blog Readers,

Well I am writing this e-mail from Moscow which means that my transfer
went successful, even if my luggage almost got thrown off of a
speeding train from Smolensk do to an administrative error.
So I guess today is my birthday. I was not really even aware of this
until the late afternoon. I had taken a train from Smolensk and
arrived in Moscow with Elder Nalimov and Elder Lantukh. Shortly
afterwards we picked up two sister missionaries who are transferring
and got in the mission van to drive to our various locations. On the
way over we saw a car that had just crashed and was pretty messed up.
In my normal fashion I commented: "Wow what a dreadful day." to which
Sister Hansen responded: "You mean, dreadful for that guy, not for
you." This got my mind thinking: Was there any reason for me to
exclaim that this was a dreadful day? Is there anything special going
on or something terrible that would explain this Freudian slip? Then I
remembered that it was the 16th of April which meant that I was
officially out of teenage years and into my 20's. This was quite a
shock to me. For my birthday I decided to go the Russian Great
Patriotic War Museum, but it was closed because all the museums are
closed on Monday. So I just walked around the grounds and saw the
moments with some of the other missionaries and now I am back in the
mission office writing you and trying to figure out how to send
pictures since that is what I was planning on doing for this weeks
e-mail.
Due to the fact that I am devoting time and energy to figuring out the
complexities of this silicon based machine, I am afraid that my
remarks will be rather brief. I hope that the pictures I will send
will make up for my shortness of words! At any rate, I was sad to
leave Smolensk, but excited for something new. Smolensk was a real
trial by fire for me. It was not an easy city. But I think I came out
of it with alot of good experiences that helped me grow and become a
better person. I hope that everything goes well in that city in the
future and that things will start to turn around.
This morning at four o'clock I got on my sleeper train with my two
large suitcases. When I opened the door to my coupe I found that there
were two old grandma's sleeping there and they were not happy that I
woke them up. Also I found that there was absolutely no room for
luggage! As I was trying to figure this out the conductor came up to
me and told me that this was not a luggage train and my luggage would
have to be dropped off at the next city! I argued with her about that
idea. Finally she relented and said I could put my luggage on my bed
and just sit in the hallway. I was fine with that solution, but then
one of the old ladies started making a fuss about the possibility of
the suitcases falling on her. As this was happening one of the main
conductors came to figure out the problem. She started talking to me
with hand symbols and broken Russian and we had the following
conversation:
Conductor: "I am sorry I don't speak Polish!"
Me: "Oh good! Neither do I!"
Conductor: "Wow you speak Russian!!"
Me: "Of course, I live here."
Conductor: "What type of money do you have?"
Me: "Russian money... I live here."
Conductor: "You can pay me 300 rubles and we'll keep your luggage."
Me: "Like a bribe?"
Conductor: "No its our policy, 500 rubles and you keep your luggage."
Me: "500? You said 300 earlier!"
Conductor: "No, 500 is the price."
Me: "Ugh...."
That is the conversation we literately had. They were very nice and
accommodating though, even if my luggage did get hidden in a hot water
heater compartment and they wouldn't tell me where it was. I love my
night train adventures. Evidently I have a Polish accent when I speak
Russian!
Well that's about all for now, I'll send you some pictures hopefully in
the near future!

As Always,
Elder Zachery Brasier

Yes I Like Stormy Weather....Out Of My Window.....

Dear Family and Loyal Blog Readers,

Well I am still in Smolensk, and I probably will be for another week. Basically now I am just wrapping up all the lose ends that I have in Smolensk, writing in everybodies journals, taking pictures and preparing to leave. It is kind of a blessing to know my transfer early, but it is also kind of a pain, because I know that I will not get to see the fruit of a lot of my labor in Smolensk. This seems to be a bit of a recurring theme so far on my mission. But, I'm excited to go serve in Moscow but a little overwhelmed considering that there is going to be a lot of work to do, since I will be running the logistics right as the missions are combining. I am going to be a busy Elder! Of course, it is unfortunate to be taken out of the front lines for a little but I have prayed a lot about my transfer, and I've felt at peace that I am not being sent to Moscow as some sort of punishment (as a transfer to the office usually implies) but because I am really needed there. At any rate, I probably won't be in Moscow for another week and a half.

For those unaware, Moscow is the current capital of Russia. It was made the capital of Russia after the 1917 October Revolution (the previous capital being St. Petersburg). Moscow has only risen to prominence fairly recently in Russian history, it was not one of the originally cities of the Rus (the forerunners to the Russian people) and only climbed to fame around 400-500 years ago (this is fairly recent in Russian history) and has existed for around 850 years. Of course, Moscow is the most well known city in Russia and also has the biggest population. Most Russian's will compare Moscow to New York City, since both are teeming metropolises, although Moscow grows outwards instead of upwards like New York City. I'm sure you are all rather familiar with the famous sites in Moscow: Red Square, the Kremlin, Bolshoi Theatre, and the Stalin Sisters. The church is really picking up right now in Moscow. Last year, the first stake was organized in Moscow and has been growing ever since. Moscow serves now as the center for all church activities in Western Russia and is the most likely location for the first Russian temple (whenever that will come about). I really like Moscow, it is an exciting and interesting city, and it has a sweet Metro system.

I was completely unaware that yesterday was Easter Sunday for everybody back home in America! In Russia our holidays are set off of the Eastern Orthodox calender so this coming Sunday is Easter. Sunday was the Orthodox holiday celebrating the day when the angel Gabriel informed Mary of the immanent birth of Jesus Christ. However, I have been focusing lately on the life of our Savior Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us. Yesterday I was reading a talk by President Thomas S. Monson about Easter Morning and I wanted to share a brief quotation from it: "My beloved brothers and sisters, in our hour of deepest sorrow, we can receive profound peace from the words of the angel that first Easter morning: “He is not here: for he is risen.”" I have really learned on my mission the role of Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Redeemer, and I feel as though I understand it now more than ever. I love reflect on the magnitude of his ministry and his sacrifice for us. Nobody else could have done it except for him. Really, the whole idea behind Easter and the Atonement is love, God's love for us that he would give his son, Christ's love for us that he would give his life, and our love for both God and Jesus Christ that we will live our lives according to there teachings and sacrifice our small sacrifice in order to be closer to them. I find peace in the idea that we are all healed through the Atonement if we allow ourselves to be healed. As Isaiah said: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5). And, not only can we forgiven of our sins but we may live again. This is what the empty tomb means to me. Christ is not dead. He lives. And because of that we all will leave. Death is not the end. Christ's incalculable gift extends beyond the confines of our mortal perspective into the endlessness of eternity. These are just a few of my thoughts. I'm really bad at writing gospel things, I am much better at speaking them, and in Russian!

So missionary work has been plugging along lately. We are not meeting with this older lady named Irina who is really nice and very accepting of the gospel. She is a bit of a forever investigator, she has been investigating the church for almost 7 years, but Elder Mitchell and I are hoping that this is the time that she will actually get baptized. Vladimir is doing good. He came to church on Sunday and we talked about medicine and biochemistry for awhile. Vladimir is so cool! He walks to church everyday (a distance of about 7 miles) and always arrives 30 minutes early in order to be spiritually prepared. Yesterday he told me that after my mission I need to walk everywhere for my health. To quote: "I love you brother, and as your doctor I am telling you that you should be doing this." So I guess I'll have to walk more when I get home! As always, we are just waiting for Vladimir to get married so he can get baptized. Gokul is also doing good. He has been rather busy since he passed his medical exams. This last week he has been shadowing a lot of surgeries and getting more hands on practice in his medical school. Other than those two we have some other investigators that we are meeting with but those are the most noticeable. I'm curious to see how things progress after I leave Smolensk.

The weather right now has been quite strange. This week we had two blizzard days and right now it is snowing yet again! It has been snowing a ton in Smolensk! I don't really mind this, because I rather like the snow (not so much the rain though) but it has been strangely unseasonable. I wonder if there will still be snow on the ground next week, because then it will be the first time I had a birthday with snow.

Elder Jewkes officially hit his year mark this week. We celebrated by buying a cake and attempting to make root beer. I found some root beer extract in our kitchen and prepared the syrup and went to buy some soda water for it. Unfortunately I couldn't find any good club soda or soda water so I decided to use Indian Tonic Water, which I figured would work because it looked clear and bubbly. Clear and bubbly, that's what I need right? Well I forgot that Indian Tonic Water was flavored with quinine which as the dictionary informs me is: "a bitter crystalline alkaloid C₂₀H₂₄N₂O₂ from cinchona bark used in medicine." Yeah, that bitter part doesn't taste very good with root beer extract. So I messed up (we'll probably get the AP's to try and drink it). However, Elder Jewkes suddenly becoming and old man on the mission suddenly made me realize that I am going to become an old man on the mission soon! Scary thoughts.

Well that is my week, it wasn't extremely notable but interesting as always. I hope you all have a great week!

As Always,

Elder Zachery Brasier

PS. A good scripture from our good friend Paul: "The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light." (Romans 13:12)

PPS- I'll be able to send pictures as soon as I get in Moscow, so you'll be able to see Smolensk.

Kafka's Revenge

Dear Family and Loyal Blog Readers,

Well this week has officially seen a bit of a logistical breakdown of our mission (as implied somewhat by the title of this e-mail). I will explain this in just a few seconds.

The week started out pretty much uninteresting with nothing really exciting going on, basically just routine. We had a good lesson with Gokul about the Plan of Salvation and cleared up a lot of his concerns about reincarnation and how that works with God's Plan. I was quite glad that I had studied a little bit of Hinduism in college so I could better relate and understand his religious background. It reminded me of the scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants where we are commanded to learn about the world so that we may "be prepared in all things when I send send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission with which I have commissioned you." (DC 88:78-80). Gokul is way cool and he promised to pray about the Plan of Salvation. He also really likes the story of Nephi in the Book of Mormon and told us all about how we should honor our parents and such. Gokul is a really awesome guy, he just passed his exams to become a doctor and he really is starting to grasp the role of Jesus Christ in his life and the Plan of God. Every lesson he prays in Hindi because it is more comfortable for him, so I am starting to learn some Hindi words like Father, friends, and such. Also during the week we found some new investigators and had some pretty successful English clubs. More and more people are coming each week and I have really begun to understand how to teach the English language. Teaching your native tongue is somewhat difficult because you understand instinctively why the language is the way it is, but it can be difficult at times to explain the grammar or mechanics of the language.

And thus the week was going along quite swimmingly when President mysteriously called us on Thursday. He began talking to me with the shocking sentence: "Well Elder Brasier I am giving you a mid-transfer transfer." I was shocked, but was somewhat expecting to be transferred back to Nizhny or maybe to Voronezh due to the fact that mini-missionaries are currently serving there. However I was wrong. President informed me that I was being transferred into the office to serve as one of the Office Elders in Moscow. This was slightly shocking to me because it was completely unexpected. President told me that I had a few more days in Smolensk and I would be leaving on Monday to serve in the office with Elder Lantukh (who I served with earlier in Nizhny) so I should say good bye to everybody in Smolensk.
Thus, for the next few days I called all the people I cared about the most, got them to write in my journal, took pictures of the city and the people, prepared my farewell talk, and started to pack. Then, Saturday night President calls me again and says: "Elder Brasier you aren't coming into the Office on Monday, the mission is really messed up right now and we don't know what is going on really. You will probably come in sometime over the next few weeks, just be ready to transfer." So now I am just sitting in Smolensk (working still) wondering when I am going to get transferred in Moscow.

Here is the problem. Kazakhstan is having huge issues right now. Astana just got shut down for missionary work and Almaty is having issues. So Elder Dannenberg is stuck in Astana because of Visa problems that aren't allowing him to LEAVE Kazakhstan. Elder Starr (my original replacement in Smolensk) has been bouncing around three cities for two weeks before finally ending up as the acting Branch President of Tver. The old branch president, Elder Jensen, has been in Ukraine for a week trying to get a Kazakh Visa which has now been denied. The problem is he doesn't have a current Russian Visa so has been stuck in Ukraine. The mini-missionary in Vorenezh can't go home for another three weeks (this is a problem because the missionary who I would replace in the office was supposed to go there) and pretty much things don't make any sense right now. I feel bad for President Woolley because the man has to be incredibly stressed right now. Some of the missionaries in our mission have been on a train ten times in the past week while everybody gets shuffled around trying to get all the cities manned while President tries to figure out what to do. Sometimes my mission is crazy.

More or less that is the state of affairs right now. It is really weird to have said goodbye to everybody but actually not leave, especially because I don't know when will be leaving Smolensk now! It's not a big problem, because I love Smolensk and we are starting to see a little bit of progress with the branch and our investigators. The snow is also starting to melt (theoretically, it snows lightly almost every morning) which means spring is coming eventually. I can't believe it is still snowing and 0 degrees Celsius in April!

Essentially I have not a whole lot to report about this week besides the Kafkaesque logistics. I spent most of my week saying goodbye to people and spending time with the youth and the investigators which we have. I'll make sure to let you all know when I eventually get transferred to Moscow, because as of right now I don't know when that will be!


As Always,
Elder Zachery Brasier

PS: A good scripture I really liked this week from the Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 26:23-24: "For behold my beloved brethren, I say unto you that the Lord God worketh not in darkness. He doeth not anything anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation." Everybody is invited to partake of the salvation of God and everything that God and Christ has done is for our benefit. I know this to be true because I have seen it so many times on my mission!

PSS- Also I receive all the packages that are sent to me. I appreciate them so much, and I've sent out cards to everybody who I got stuff from, they just might take awhile to get to America!

Myxomatosis (Or: The Airborne Diseases of Russia are Out to Get Us!)

Dear Family and Loyal Blog Readers,

As inferred by the title of my e-mail, this week has been characterized by sicknesses in Smolensk. Not specifically my sickness, for I have escaped unharmed for now (I chalk that up to the exceptional work of my T Cell and B Cell lymphocytes, but I still am knocking on wood so that I don't pick up anything in the future). Elder Jewkes has been down and out for almost a week and a half now and Elder Mitchell is starting to become symptomatic. One of our ward members thinks that we have problems with our blood circulation and pressure, but as far as I can tell we are all doing alright (although mine was a little low last night.) At any rate that is just a passing thing and everybody is getting back to our normal healthy selves.

This week I was able to go to Moscow for a zone conference, and much to my surprise it ended up being a nearly whole mission conference, so I got to see my good friends Elder Olsen, Elder Bressler and Sister Hansen once again! It is always so fun to go to conferences and see all your friends and exchange crazy stories and such. I am always so happy to see that everybody is doing good and continuing to carry out their missionary work in their respective cities. We arrived quite early into Moscow Wednesday morning and thus the Yaroslavl Elders and us went to tour Red Square. I was kicking myself that I forgot my camera, because right now Red Square looks a lot more stereotypical then when I first saw it (you know: with snow and wind and coldness like it shows in nearly every American movie). But alas, my camera was sitting uselessly at my apartment in Smolensk. After a good motivating conference and some nice home cook food, our district went and toured Arbat Street, which is one of the tourist trap souvenir centers in Moscow. As missionaries we have an advantage over other tourists in that we can speak Russian fairly well, so we can barter for our souvenirs. In many of the stores I was just watching people get ripped off! We found a pretty sweet military surplus store where I picked up some propaganda posters and a sweet USSR t-shirt, and while we were there some Germans were getting played with some fake "Soviet" military hats! People really need to check the serial numbers and materials when they are buying military surplus! At any rate, after some successful bartering and exciting purchases we returned home to Smolensk on a night train.

And as for our missionary work... Well things aren't going too badly right now. This week was a little messed up with some logistics involving a young orphan child, infectious diseases and the Moscow conference, but we were able to get some things done. We had a lesson with a man who was more or less crazy. I won't spell it out for you because it would take too long, but he started out his arguing with the phrase: "God is an orange!" then continued to tell us that everybody in the world is Buddah and with committing us to look at our hands every night for ten minutes and repeat the phrase: "I exist." Yes, he won't be a long term investigator. However, we did find some good people on the street and two of our contacts have told us that they are reading the Book of Mormon, they just haven't had time to meet quite yet. Also, we had some very spiritual lessons with members about the Plan of Salvation and how God provided a plan for us. I love teaching the Plan of Salvation to people because it strengthens my testimony and makes me grateful for the ability that we have to learn the fullness of God's plan for us and find comfort and hope in that. I can't imagine how hard it would be to have no conception of this doctrine and just live thinking that life is purposeless. I'm grateful that I know that my life has a purpose and most importantly that even after I die I can live with the people I love, even after years of separation by death. This gives me so much hope and joy in the future!

At any rate, this week is what can be called a slow week. However, slow weeks always motivate me to work harder next week (as if it will make some sort of compensation in my missionary work balance.) We've got some good potential investigators and I'm excited to start working with some new people.

Lately I haven't mentioned much about Vladimir because he is not in my area anymore so we aren't teaching him. He is doing good though. His work is insane right now, he is working the jobs of three doctors! He is getting payed more but the man has to be exhausted. Unfortunately this has also caused a delay with his marriage documents! But we call him frequently and talk to him and he is doing good. He always says something like: "My brothers, I pray almost constantly because with out Heavenly Father I can do nothing!" or "I read some bad things people said about Joseph Smith on the Internet, but I don't believe them! I only trust you my brothers, because you are looking out for me!" A few days ago he got a hold of President Monson's talk from last Priesthood Session. He especially liked the part where President Monson said, "Dare to be a Mormon; Dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm; dare to make it known." Vladimir loved that quote and told us that he would never betray us, because he dares to be a Mormon (he said this while referencing some members who have removed their names from the church recently). I love Vladimir, his faith and diligence is so inspirational to me, and he hasn't even been baptized yet!

Well that's all I've got for now. General Conference is coming up soon and I am getting way pumped. Conference is so exciting for missionaries. We love the chance to hear new talks and get new guidance from our living Prophet and Apostles. I've been getting pumped up by reading all the talks from last Conference, so I'm ready for a new one!

At any rate, live long and prosper!

Never tell me the odds,

Elder Zachery Brasier

PS- None of us actually have Myxomatosis so don't worry, because none of us are rabbits, thus making it impossible to catch that disease.

PPS- Since I'm a missionary I would like to start sharing some scriptures I like with you. This week I was really struck by Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!  I like that promise and love to apply it to missionary service.

Fig Factory

Dear Family and Loyal Blog Readers,

 

This week has flown by rather quickly, and unfortunately not a whole lot has happened worthy of note. Elder Mitchell and I are continuing to work together and I rather enjoy working with him. Also, the weather has finally gotten above the 0 degree C mark, which means that everything is starting to melt. While this is a good thing, it also provides some problems for us. Russian roads do not come equipped with the adequate draining like in America. As the snow melts, everything collects into miniature lakes that we have to walk through. Normally this wouldn't be a huge problem, but my boots have recently acquired some leaks, so after a day or two of this I was concerned that I may develop a case of trench foot! Never fear, today I used the power of super glue to put my boots back together.

As for the title of my e-mail allow me to explain. In Russia there is a hand gesture known as a "fig". It consists of sticking your thumb in between your index and middle fingers in some sort of twisted fist. It is two or three degrees down from the middle finger of American contempt and is used to designate that something is stupid or undesirable. Also it isn't offensive. As missionaries in Russia the word "fig" has become part of our vernacular. For us, "getting a fig" means to have somebody cancel on a lesson or to just not have somebody show up for a lesson. We have been receiving quite a bit of figs recently, and thus our investigator pool at this time could be designated as a "fig factory". Unfortunately, we have not met with Daniil at all this week and we have only met with Gokul once. Many of our other investigators have given us figs as well.

 

So what do missionaries do when they receive figs? Well they go street contacting and tracking of course! This is what Elder Mitchell and I have been doing quite frequently now. We usually just pick a direction that we have never been and contact in that direction. I actually rather like this because 1) It keeps me in shape (hiking 10 miles around Smolensk everyday will certainly work of a diet of SuperSnickers and Ramen) and 2) I get to see parts of the city I have never seen before, thus fulfilling my desire to do missionary work and to see the city. We have found some quite interesting places. Some of my favorites have been a Catholic Cathedral we found that had been closed since the October Revolution in 1917 (I was extremely shocked to find a Catholic cathedral in the middle of Russia, a through and through Eastern Orthodox country), a plethora of Yuri Gagaran statues (since he was born not far from here), and many strange and inexplicable buildings (the best being the one that had a huge symbol painted on it that look liked the Tri-Force symbol of Legend of Zelda fame.) It is really great to see many parts of this city while meeting and talking to new people every day about the gospel, and we sure have found some interesting people! The best experience this week while contacting and tracking was a great door that we tracked into a few nights ago. This older lady opened the door and we told her who we were and such, and she invited us in. As we were standing in front of the door she yelled for her husband saying: "Alexandr come here! The church is here to atone our sins for us!!!" Her husband came out, a very nice man who has some sort of physical hip deformity that makes it hard for him to walk. After we explained to him that we don't atone for people's sins we gave him a Book of Mormon and he promised to read it. Last time we called him he said he had been reading but wants to read just a little bit more before he talks to us. I'm hoping that that turns into something in the future.

 

Wednesday was Pi Day. I explained why I was excited that it was Pi day in English club and everybody thought I was a huge nerd, except for the Belarusian medical student who came for the second time (the last time she asked me who to say words like "gastro-intestinal system", "aorta", "thrombosis" in English. It was the most anatomically detailed English club I had every done.) After words we had a lesson of sorts with Igor (who I mentioned last week) and I was able to have a great discussion with him for about an hour and a half about why he needed God in his life. It was so interesting for me to talk with him and kind of discuss how certain philosophies (Platonic Theory, Existentialism, Fatalism, Socratic Theory) relate to the gospel. I don't know how effective it was, but one of the other English Club girls was listening and asked for a Book of Mormon afterwards, so I guess it was somewhat worth it.

 

Saturday was St. Patricks Day and I made sure to wear a green tie to celebrate my Irish heritage (I only have one green tie, so I was extremely glad I hadn't worn it earlier in the week). I also made sure to explain to some of the branch members why it was so important to me. I don't think they really understood exactly why Saint Patricks Day was a big deal, but I was glad to bring just a little bit of Irish culture to the branch here in Smolensk. Unfortunately we also had ran out of potatoes (and by ran out I mean we bought potatoes a month ago and put them in our dark cupboard and then forgot they were there so when we wanted to use them they had all sprouted nasty potato alien plants so we couldn't eat any of the potatoes) and I couldn't locate any corned beef. But I'm sure that it was the thought that counted.

 

Well that's all I've got for this week. Tuesday night I leave on a night train for Moscow which should be exciting. I'm excited to go see my friends and get to hang around Moscow for a day (however last time I blew the rest of my Christmas money!). And, we will certainly go and visit our favorite spot in Moscow: One of the two Wendy's in Russia! Mmmm..... Wendy's......

 

Sincerely Over and Out,

Elder Zachery Brasier

 

P.S. Did you know that Isaac Asimov was born not far from here? I didn't either, until recently!

I Keep Hearing About How the Winter Is Over, but I Really Don't Believe It......

Dear Family and Loyal Blog Readers,

Things are going good this week. In order to clear up any concerns about the craziness connected with the Russian elections, it didn't really effect us at all. The only thing that really happened is that the police were patrolling the streets a lot more and fewer people were at sacrament meeting. Otherwise, it was pretty much normal. We didn't have to stay in or anything and there was no political unrest in Smolensk. I actually wasn't even aware that there were problems in Moscow, we have been hearing more about Mitt Romney then Vladimir Putin lately. So don't worry, we were pretty safe!

The end of this week was a vacation week for Russia. On the 8th was Women's Day and then after that everybody was off from work and school for three days, which meant a lot of people were less willing to meet with us. However, Elder Mitchell and I have continued to work rather hard. I forgot to mention, but he is originally from California but was living in Kirtland, Ohio before he went on his mission. We have been working to increase our investigator pool and work towards some baptisms here. Right now our best investigator is this Indian guy named Gokul who randomly called us one day and wanted to meet. He speaks English, Hindi, Russian, and some other language I didn't recognize, so we teach him in English and he teaches us how to spell our names and say phrases in Hindi. Currently his religion is Krishnaism (Taylor Jensen, I thought you might find that interesting) so it has been a very interesting experience for us. We essentially have to give him the Christian background that most Russians grow up with and teach him about God and Jesus Christ. The cool thing is that we inexplicably had two Hindi Book of Mormons in our branch. For the longest time I was so confused as to why we had these books, but I guess one of them was meant for Gokul. Our other solid investigator is a man named Daniil. He is a great guy but kind of a Bible Basher. When we teach he likes to play the "devil's advocate" role and tear down our doctrine, but he does it in order to see how we can explain things from his viewpoint. I love lessons with him because I have to keep on my toes and really use the Bible to teach. Investigators like Daniil are always interesting because they force me to really figure out where the doctrine comes from. We always tell people that there was an apostasy from the truth and thus a restoration was restored. Most people don't ask a whole lot about that, but Daniil does, so it forces me to go back and look in the scriptures for the scriptural proof. Teaching him has been fascinating and I recently drew what I called the "Super Plan of Salvation" detailing God's plan for us and listing nearly a hundred scriptural references to back everything up. I became so grateful for modern day restoration and the understanding that comes from having a prophet of God right now on the Earth. Sometimes though, I get frustrated though while teaching him. However, the other day we got done with a lesson and Daniil said: "I'm sorry I am so hard to teach and I argue so much, but I am just like Joseph Smith, I need to know the truth." That really made my day.

Speaking of Bible Bashers, we seemed to have run into a ton of them lately! It seems like nearly every lesson we have had has been with a Bible Basher for the past few days. We have had people come with Lingustics arguments about the language of the Book of Mormon, mathematics arguments concerning the weight of the Golden Plates, scriptural arguements (the prophetic test in Deuteronomy 18: 20-22) and so on. It has been a really test of strength on my testimony to be confronted with all this stuff. We have been running into anti-Mormon arguments since Day 1 in Smolensk and I am grateful that my testimony of the church has not been shaken much by what people have thrown at us. However, let this be a warning to all prospective missionaries! Make sure you have a solid testimony when you get in the field, because out in the mission field people shoot to kill! In the midst of all this though, I find comfort in the fact that as missionaries we don't have to get worried about what other people might say, because we know the truth, and we have the Word of God to back us up, and I have been strengthened time and time again but being able to find the answers to all this opposition quite easily by researching and praying about the truth. Every time we run into somebody adverse to our cause, it ultimately strengthens my testimony.

I recently had a bit of a self searching moment. It has been interesting for me to be serving with somebody who is the same age on the mission as me. Probably for the rest of my mission now, I will no longer be the junior companion, or if I am, not by much. Thus, it really is up to Elder Mitchell and I to figure out how to work best. It is crazy to me to step back from the missionary program for a little bit and just look at it from an outsiders view. Two 19 year old young men, not even graduated from college go on the streets every day and try to bring people to word of God. We spend our whole day worrying and working towards other people's eternal salvation. The salvation of some random 45 year old man on the street in essence lies on the shoulders of two young people who can barely hack their way through the Russian language. People who say that God no longer performs miracles need only look at the missionary program to see a miracle in progress. Sometimes I don't like to think about how much pressure is on us but sometimes it is cool to realize that the growth of the church essentially relies on the efforts of 19-26 year old young men and women. Today during scriptures study I read this verse, Doctrine and Covenants 133:58-59 (emphasis added): "... for the Lord's errand in the day when the weak shall confound the wise and the little ones become a strong nation and the two shall put their tens of thousands to flight. And by the weak things of the earth the Lord shall thrash the nations by the power of his Spirit." So yes, I just thought I would share that moment of introspection with you all. I am just so thankful to be on a mission (even though sometimes I feel so much significantly older than I really am!)

Well that is about all that happened this week. I am really excited because next Wednesday we have a Zone Conference in Moscow and my trainer Elder Dannenberg just got transferred to Tver, which is in our zone, so I get to see him again (he has been in Kazakhstan for the past six months)! I'm excited to show him my significantly improved Russian skills! Also tomorrow is Pi Day (3/14) and following that is Saint Patricks Day (3/17). I have got to figure out some great ways to celebrate this two days.

On a cool note, one of our regular English club goers Igor (who is a big fan of Radiohead, Pixies, a bunch of trippy weird movies and such. Essentially he is the only person in Smolensk I can talk to about stuff like that) told me that on the outskirts of the city is a Nazi bunker complex that people can go and see. He suggested I wait till the snow melts because it would be hard to hike through the forest right now, but come April our district will be making it a priority to go out and tour the bunker complex. So I am pretty excited about that!

Come on snow... melt, melt, melt, melt......

As Always,

Elder Zachery Brasier

Dear Family and Loyal Blog Readers,

I must apologize for the delay on my weekly update. There were some logistical issues. Our normal Internet cafe got closed down for a repair (I think this is the word, I can only remember the word in Russian: Ремонт and it means to go and to fix up the store, give it new wallpaper and stuff. I can't for the life of me remember the English word!) so we had to use the post office but for some reason my computer was not loading LDS Mail services so I had to wait until today to have time to write. Once again, I offer my humble and sincere apologies.

This week has not been an extremely exciting week, excluding a few events. First of all, this six week transfer is ending tomorrow and transfer calls came in. It looks as though I'll be staying in Smolensk for another transfer and will be serving with Elder Mitchell who I knew in the MTC. That should be exciting. Elder Jewkes became the official branch president of the Smolensk Branch of the church and Elder Melling heads home tomorrow. An Elder from Voronezh will be replacing him on Thursday. Also, I got released from being the branch pianist. The lady who used to play the piano finally decided that she wanted to play again, so she will be doing that job.

President Woolley came and visited us this week and we had an activity for Women's Day and Men's Day/Day of the Defence of the Motherland. It was a pretty good activity and we had a lot of non-members come. President Woolley also seemed to have enjoyed our activity and I was quite pleased that everything ran smoothly. A few days earlier, Elder Bitner and Elder Hasbuillin (the Assistants to the President) came. I also enjoy having the AP's around. Elder Bitner and I had quite a successful day, and since it was the same day as transfer calls he was able to inform me of where all my friends were being transferred. Transfers is one of the most exciting times for the missionaries and there is always a lot of speculation about who is moving where. Unfortunately we are almost always wrong because President always pulls some sort of unexpected transfer that throws off all of our "transfer tracking."

On my day with Elder Bitner I was able to teach the strangest lesson I have yet to run into on his mission. A few weeks earlier, Elder Jewkes and I had met a man named Sergei on the street who was a political activist who was trying to get us interested in a political party attempting to create a Russian empire with an Emperor at the head and all that jazz. He gave us his business card and told us to call him. One night we decided to just call him (almost as a joke) and he said he wanted to meet, especially because he had met with missionaries earlier in his life and really liked them. So, Elder Bitner and I went to the appointment.

Things started out rather smoothly. Sergei gave us some literature about the party (which I cut pictures out of and send them in letters) and told us about his life. Then we prayed together and Elder Bitner and I started teaching by asking him what he believed about God. This is where things went downhill. He started to tell us about how God was not like us at all, just something indescribable, (this is not that strange for us since we get this response alot) specifically, God is an alien. According to Sergei God has green skin and big eyes and sends his angels (also aliens) to visit us. How does he know this? Well because he has had an extraterrestrial encounter! About 20 years ago he was sitting in his house and suddenly the room filled with light and all his electronic devices started to go wild. A figure started to descend from the ceiling! Sergei knew exactly what to do and ran into the kitchen and bathroom, turning on all the faucets and showers. He did this because, as we all know, aliens are terrified of water (I think he might have seen "Signs" a few too many times). Fortunately for Sergei the alien left, but for the next 20 years he has been constantly followed by Flying Cigars and Saucers that have been trying to send him messages. This is Sergei's religious foundation. Also he explained to us how Jesus Christ was not a human (Homo Sapien specifically) but was some sort of alternate species of humanity with some crazy features and some very specific evolutionary traits that we didn't quite understand. He rambled on for about 38 minutes until we cut him off and told him to read the Book of Mormon and come to church, after which we promptly left. Sergei is a really nice guy, but we didn't set up a return appointment. Elder Bitner is going home also on Wednesday and told me that after more than 2 years on his mission, that was the weirdest "lesson" he had ever had. I would had to agree (even though the lesson where our investigator predicted the downfall of America with the Book of Daniel was a close second.) Experiences like that make me love my mission, since at what other time can you experience something like that?

Well that is about all I have for now. I am now working with new investigators since Elder Jewkes is keeping our old investigators and I am starting to work with Elder Mitchell's old investigators. I don't know a whole lot of them besides this Indian guy who I met on Saturday. Once I find out more about them I will let you know how things are going. For now at least, I am happy because the winter is now officially over, even though it was -20 C today! The snow should start melting soon and the spring will come, which supposedly is a beautiful time in Smolensk.

At any rate, I wish you all luck!

As Always,

Elder Zachery Brasier

Dear Family and Loyal Blog Readers,

 

Well this week has been an interesting one. Finally, Elder Jewkes and I are starting to see the fruits of our labors here in Smolensk. It is great that we are starting to see some success from our six hour contacting marathons on the street. We have been having a good time, and I really enjoy serving with Elder Jewkes. He's a great guy and we have had some crazy experiences together that give us something to laugh about. Also, on a slightly crazy note, Elder Jewkes knows Breyden Burley, since one of Breyden's first areas was his home town. One day he was telling us a story about how this volleyball playing missionary from Vegas drilled him in the face while playing volleyball. Out of curiosity I asked him what the Elder's name was and he told me Elder Burley. It sure is a small Mormon world.

 

So here is some of the interesting experiences we have ran into this week, in chronological order. Last Saturday, we handed out a Book of Mormon to a vaguely drunk guy who gave us his number. Then on Sunday we called him to see if he wanted to meet. When Elder Jewkes called he asked for Vladimir but the man who answered told us his name was Ivan. Elder Jewkes was very confused. After not much talking Ivan invited us over to his house because he needed some help learning English. It turns out that this guy is a missionary for a different church who needed help practicing English in order to serve a mission in Africa and just moved to Smolensk! The drunk guy on the street gave us the wrong number and it turned out that the number he gave was a person who actually needed our help. Right now he isn't very interested in the gospel but I don't believe that things like that happen by accident.

 

Then on Wednesday after English Club we had another slightly shocking experience. For awhile this 20 year old guy named Dima has been coming to English Club. Elder Jewkes and I met him on the street but we wrote down the wrong number (do you see a common theme?) so Dima just came to English Club on his own. The guy reminds me of the kid from the movie October Skies and always tells me about his ideas for rocketry and lasers. On Wednesday we talked about travelling to different countries in English Club. Elder Jewkes and I had planned to talk to Dima about the gospel but he left too quickly. However, he returned about five minutes later because he thought he had forgot his camera and out of nowhere asked us what he needs to do to become a missionary for our church! Of course he doesn't understand exactly what that means to be a missionary (I think part of his motivation is he wants to go to Australia) but that is a desire that we are going to work with.

 

Finally, on Friday night we had some interesting door tracting experiences. Usually tracting involves sitting outside of an apartment complex calling on the intercom system until somebody lets us in and then knocking on a few doors until somebody throws us out or calls the cops. I love tracting. I always say that the miracles happen while tracting. Elder Jewkes and I had been tracting for almost an hour and having no success. We had just called all the apartments on an intercom system and had started to go the next apartment building when we heard somebody behind us yell: "Hey boys come back here!" One of the men we had called on the intercom had decided to come out and talk to us personally because he couldn't understand us on the intercom. We ended up giving him a Book of Mormon and getting his contact. The next apartment hallway ended with us getting kicked out and as we were walking out the lady was yelling at us out of her window! She was not very happy. I don't like to get dissuaded by stuff like that, so I went to the next apartment staircase and starting calling people while Elder Jewkes tried to calm down this rather unpleasant lady. The second lady I called let us in. Right as we enter the stairwell I hear her yell down 8 stories: "WHO ARE YOU! WHAT DO YOU WANT!" I was sure we were going to get kicked out again. I yelled back up 8 stories: "WE ARE MISSIONARIES WITH THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS, WE HAVE A MESSAGE FOR YOU ABOUT GOD AND HIS RESTORED CHURCH." Down comes the reply: "I CAN'T UNDERSTAND A SINGLE WORD YOU ARE SAYING!" A little frustrated I yell back: "WAIT RIGHT THERE! WE WILL COME UP TO YOU." Elder Jewkes and I sprinted up 8 flights of stairs and arrived at the top, winded but ready to talk to this lady. We tell her a little about ourselves and we offer her a Book of Mormon. She says: "I don't think that this is a good idea, my daughter works in the cathedral so she won't like if I read this..." I thought we had lost the conversation. Suddenly, this ladies face twists up into a mask of firm resolve and she says: "But I'll hide it! I want to read this book!" and she stuffs the Book of Mormon up her shirt (at this point I kind of didn't want the book back)! So she gave us her number, and we called her to come to church yesterday. Unfortunately she had to work but she told us that she told her family about us and now they are all interested to meet! I'm hoping things work out!

 

And really that is pretty much all I've got for this week. We have been meeting with a lot of our street contacts and a few of them seem like they can become really solid investigators. I think right now has been the most productive and successful I have been on my mission. Also, Vladimir told us that he is finally going to get all the paperwork done and get legally married to his wife, which means he'll be able to be baptized shortly! I am pretty excited for that to happen (and a little scared, because we have no baptismal font, which means we will baptize him in the iced over river!)

 

Oh, and President Woolley called yesterday. Elder Jewkes is going to be the new Smolensk branch president when Elder Melling leaves next month. I'm not quite sure how he feels about that....

 

Well live long and prosper my friends.

 

As Always,

Elder Zachery Brasier

Dear Family and Loyal Blog Readers,

Have you ever had one of those weeks that you feel like quite a bit
has happened but you really don't know how to fully explain it because
as you search the recesses of your mind to try and find some sort of
concrete story from your week, you inexplicably come up blank. If you
have experienced something similar to this phenomenon, then you have
an insight into how my week has been. Although I know somethings have
happened, I can think of absolutely nothing exciting to write! So I
will try my hardest, because I realize that I have two options, either
write a small letter and thus cause a slight bit of worry among the
family or write a lengthy letter but dive into areas of abstraction
that could be strange or confusing. I will desperately try to avoid
both of those seemingly inevitable conclusions.

After the rather large shock of the mission conference, things have
been settling back into a normal rythmn of things. The whole mission
boundry change is strange because it is close, but also far enough in
the future that it poses absolutely no obstruction to mission work. At
any rate, I am rather comfortable with this future change, although I
am somewhat disappointed that I will not be able to serve in
Kazakhstan. However, I now have a new goal: Serve in Kaliningrad! (If
you don't know where that is, I don't blame you. It is an exclave of
Russian territory that is located under the Baltic States. Look
closely at the map, you'll find it, and yes, that is inexplicably
Russian territory.)

This week Elders from Tver and Minsk came in. I had a good time with
Elder Jensen from Tver, since we are usually on the same page of
cleverness and some dark humor. Elder Jensen's current companion,
Vova, is a short term missionary from Kazakhstan. If you watch the
video of the Ukraine temple dedication there is a part where two
Kazakhs are talking about their dance number, and Vova is the darker
complexioned quiter guy. We had a good time with them, and also with
the Minsk Elders who got to practice some street contacting (which is
currently illegal in Belarus).

Elder Jewkes and I have been working hard in order to find new people
interested in the church, since we are building our area from scratch.
We have found a few good people, including this old grandma named
Raiyna (which is an extremely strange name). She was overjoyed when we
gave her a Book of Mormon and then came to church on Sunday with gifts
for us: A Dosteivsky novel and a book of Russian poetry, which I
thought was cool (incedently I am building up quite the Russian
library, I just can't read any of it after my mission! Everybody who
finds out I like to read ends up giving me some sort of novel from a
Russian author). We showed Raiyna the restoration movie about Joseph
Smith and she loved it. She also wanted to pray with us, and she
embarked on a half-memorized Orthodox prayer that she kept forgetting
and asking us for help. It was quite funny because Elder Jewkes and I
could not decide if she was done praying or not and confusing ensued.
We'll have to work with her on that.

Otherwise, Vladimir is still working to get married and came to church
yesterday with his son. He also got quite angry at Elder Melling
because Vladimir believes that Elder Melling is experiencing
malnutrition, and gave Elder Melling a lengthy talk about health. I
found it quite entertaining. Elder Jewkes and I have also found a lot
of other people who are potentially interested so we are hoping that
the area will really start to grow over the next week or two.

Russia tricked us today. It was sunny for a few days and the
temperature was warming up! We were all viewing it as a sign that the
winter was past its worst. Today the clouds closed in, the wind
started, the temperature dropped and snow started to fall. And thus,
the freeze is still on.

Also, good news, I have a picture to send you! As I said earlier, it
is practically impossible for me to send pictures while I am in
Smolensk, but President Woolley sent us a picture from mission
conference. You may be confused as too my strange facial expression. I
have an explanation. Elder Olsen and I were talking about making
strange faces during the mission picture, so we did for the first one.
Then the photographer went to take a second one and Elder Olsen was
sure that this was just a back up and thus we could look even stranger
and nobody would know the better. So I did just that, and Elder Olsen
smiled nicely. He later informed me that at the last second he figured
that the second picture was the real one, and decided to smile
normally. He forgot to inform me.
Well I hope everybody has a nice week. Stay frosty my friends!

As Always, Elder Zachery Brasier

(Unfortunately I couldn't get the picture he sent.  I don't know his password for that account.  I will ask him about that.  Sorry.)

Dear Family and Loyal Blog Readers,

 

There has been a rumor going around about a change in my mission, and I will set everything strait right now. On Wednesday we had a mission conference in Moscow were one of the leaders of the Eastern European area gave us a pep talk, and also some news. He started by talking about change and how change is good for all of us. Continuing, he foreshadowed the fact that there would be a big change in our mission. He started telling us about how the 12 Apostles all prayed about it and then the President Uchtdorf and Eyring and finally the Prophet Thomas S. Monson. He informed us that they had held a meeting in the Salt Lake temple about this change and even though it wasn't the most seemingly logical option, it was the one they felt inspire to pursue. This build up lasts for almost 15 minutes and I am about to jump out of my seat! With all this build up I was expecting an announcement like: "The Moscow West mission will now be merged with the Manilla, Philippines mission so you will all be on an airplane tomorrow...." or something to that effect. Right before he announces this change, the Elders from Lipetsk show up so we had to organize translation for the Ukranian missionaries. This took about 10 gut wrenching minutes. After the logistics where sorted out, the Area President started to build up again for another 10-15 minutes. (I am purposefully stretching this story out so you can experience what I felt like during this meeting.)

 

Here is the change. On July 1st our current mission president goes home and the Moscow West Mission gets merged with the Moscow mission. Belarus becomes part of the Baltic Mission and Kazakhstan becomes part of the Novosibirsk mission. So what does this mean for me? First of all our mission doubles in size. Secondly I will be able to serve in Moscow and also Zaliningrad, which are both not part of our mission boundaries. I am pretty excited about this opportunity to serve in Moscow, because I love big cities and also it will be cool to have the opportunity to see some of the awesome sights there. And that's the big news, in July the Moscow West mission will cease to exist and is replaced by a huge Moscow mission.

 

Otherwise this week was not very exciting. Elder Jewkes and I are trying to get more people to meet with because we are more or less opening up a new area right now. That means a lot of time on the streets. I finally gave in and bought a pair of Russian boots and have been wearing my fur and leather Russian Shapka (which is just a warm hat with flaps) outside. Jokingly, I asked Elder Melling if he thought it would be a good idea to wear my 1970's Soviet Aviation Leather Helmet outside (on of the sweet souvenirs I've picked up on my Moscow adventures. One cool thing about Russia is that mostly everything is up for bargain, so after about 45 minutes of wheeling and dealing I was able to buy this helmet for half the original price. I was pleased.) We decided it was probably not. Right now though we are working with Vladimir who will be baptized as soon as he gets married and loves the missionaries (also he promised to give me a Russian book on bio-engineering which I thought was a nice gesture considering I will not be able to read it!). We are also working with a man named Anatoly who is a wood carver for the Orthodox cathedral in Smolensk. The other day I just noticed he is missing the tips of three of his fingers, which was slightly ominous. Otherwise, we are hitting the streets and working with our members who really need the help.

 

For Valentine's day we had a little branch activity. The Elder's from Minsk, Belarus came as did the members from Vitepsk, Belarus. I was really happy to see some the Minsk Elders and to meet some other church members. The Belarusian church members are way awesome! It was a pretty chill Valentine's Day, and I ate way too much candy (a similar problem occurred at Halloween). It is always a shock to people how much chocolate I eat compared to my general state of thinness. I guess hiking around Russia all day really helps you lose the excess weight!

 

I had a pretty cool experience on the night train back from Moscow. Actually I had a cooler one before on the way to Smolensk for the first time. I'll relate that quickly. We were waiting on the platform to go to Smolensk and we heard somebody talking in English, so we talked to him. It was this New Yorker named Sam who was going to Smolensk in order to get work experience in a factory here. This was shocking, because I know of very few Americans who purposefully go to Smolensk (I bet 80% of Americans don't even know this city exists) to work in one of the maybe three factories here. So we got his number and will be meeting with him soon. This time on the night train we ran into these two Belarusian singers and guitarists who decided to play us a little concert on the night train. It was so cool. They sang all sorts of songs and we sang along with what we could, like Yellow Submarine and Катюша (Katyusha, and Russian folk song). We went to bed so late that night, but I didn't care because I figured stuff like that doesn't happen very often. Experiences like that remind me how cool it is to be on a mission, and especially a mission in Russia!

Well that is all I've got for today. I hope you all have an absolute splendid week. Stay warm those of you in sub-arctic climates!

 

Indubitably,

Elder Zachery Brasier

Dear Family and Loyal Blog Readers,
After my first full week in Smolensk, I am starting to get into the swing of things. Right now the biggest challenge is finding my way around the city, since both Elder Jewkes and I are new here. When I left Nizhny I knew it like the back of my foot, so now I am trying to become as familiar with Smolensk.

Winter is now in full swing here in Russia. Currently the temperatures are around -20 and it snowed all day yesterday. Yes this is quite cold, cold enough in fact that the bottom of my pant legs were frozen with ice last night. Never fear though, I have been keeping quite warm. The key to life in Russia is layers of clothing! I weighed myself the other day and I realized that with all my winter clothes I way about 10 kilograms heavier than with normal clothes on. The Russians also have been getting more and more intense about the weather. As I mentioned before, they take the winter very seriously. Last Monday we played basketball with one of our investigators Dima, so Elder Jewkes and Elder Melling decided to walk to the basketball gym in athletic shorts in -25 degree weather (I, however, was not that stupid, I made sure to keep warm.) Dima was not very happy, and ranted to be about how stupid my companions were and how they will die in the Russian weather. I think that the winter can be summed up best by one of Dima's lines: "If you don't take care of yourself in Russia, you will die. The Russian winter is completely unforgiving. Ominous? Yes, I think so.

We have started really hitting the work here. Elder Jewkes and I have been going and hitting the doors in the Russian apartment complexes, and actually got let into to somebodies house on Friday (this is extremely rare, it almost never happens.) The man was nice, but I am pretty sure he just wanted somebody to drink with. Initial conversation went something like this.

The Man: "Do you want some Vodka?"

Me: "Sorry we don't drink, maybe some juice?"

(Man walks to the refrigerator and grabs some juice... and vodka)

The Man: "So you want some Vodka yes?"

Jewkes: "No, we don't drink vodka."

(The man pours himself some vodka and then asks)

The Man: "Would you like me to fill your glass with some Vodka?"

Me: "Really we don't drink, we are here as missionaries."

The Man: [Various inappropriate conversational topics.]

Jewkes: "Ok I think we need to leave, are you interested in reading the Book of Mormon?"

The Man: "No, but I want to know if you will drink some Vodka with me."

We left, but it was quite humorous. This was only the second time I was let into somebodies apartment and it was quite an interesting experience. He was a super nice guy though, very friendly. (And this is one thing that should be noted about Russians. Russians seem very grumpy on the outside, but they are really extremely friendly people. When a Russian decides to be your friend, he will be absolutely committed to that and will talk to you for hours and his life story and offer you the shirt of his back so to speak. In this way, Russians are like coconuts, hard on the outside but soft on the inside.) At any rate, we have been finding some great new people to teach and are excited to really get this area going. Our best investigator Vladimir is still coming to church and is getting ready to marry his wife before he gets baptized. Vladimir is such a good guy because he is a logical man who leaves the light on for reason and also a religious man, who trusts in God. When he found out that I enjoy medicine he filled me in on his theories involving God and the parasympathetic nervous system. I am always amazed at his extensive English vocabulary when he talks about things like that. After the church meeting he told me about how during the meeting he suddenly had an idea about using a certain combination of drugs for a patient that he was really confused about. He told me all about how he loves receiving answers like that in church: "Elder Brasier, you see? I always get the answers to my prayers! You see?" Yes Vladimir, I do see.

On the forecast for future events: This coming Wednesday we have a Russian-Belarus mission conference in Moscow, which means lots of pizza and also some stimulating conversation with my good friend Elder Olsen! Also, one of the Church area authorities will be there so that should be interesting to hear from him. Then, on Saturday we have a branch Valentine's party, and the branch from Vitepsk, Belarus will be joining us along with the Elders from Minsk, Belarus. It should be fun to work with them.

Well I'll keep you posted about anything exciting that happens in the near future. Also, in a bit of bad news, it will be quite tough to send pictures while I am in Smolensk, since the Internet club we use won't recognize our SD cards. I'll try to figure out a way to send some of my pictures though.

From Russia with Love,

Elder Zachery Brasier