Hello Family and Friends!
Noor at the mall
Stopping by, and not getting in
These pizza's are $1 each!
...It's still winter
Some of the members and their friends at Youth Night
Armen and Arman
Well, I sent a picture home last week of Elder Yungfleisch and I eating ice cream outside in the Sun. I don't think we've really seen the sun much since then, and in the last week, we've shoveled over a foot of snow from in front of the branch. :( The days are getting longer though. It's starting to be light out later and earlier. So at least there are some signs of the changing of the seasons! I won't count it as Spring until I can go outside without a pukavik or any fur. I will tell you though, that after 7ish months of wearing some sort of jacket outside, the first time you go outside in just a white shirt and tie is very nerve racking. With jackets, we've got some element of surprise... and ability to blend in when it's good to blend in. Okay that's a lie. We never blend in. Ever. We're always looking oh so American. I don't know how they know! From as much as 50 feet away people will shout "Yankee Go HOME!" Yes, they actually yell that... among other things. :)
Anyways. This week was another quick one. It was full of a lot of opportunities to serve, meet with and help our members. But I'll start with last Monday night. We met with Noor again Monday night. He was only an hour and 20 minutes late! So we didn't have much time. Since he couldn't make it to the Branch, we met him at a Mall closer to his apartment, and walked around in there a bit. We sat on a bench, and ended up having a great conversation about God's plan of happiness, in relation to our families. His parents are Muslim, but somewhere along the line, he was converted to Christianity. He saw a film about Christ, and I think that was the turning point. It was a good little bench meeting in a mall. He had work all day every day until Sunday. He missed out on Sacrament meeting, but made it for Priesthood in the 2nd hour. Afterwards we stayed in the room and just talked for a while. Read from Ether 12, and 2 Nephi 31. He's got such a desire to receive a spiritual confirmation about all of the things that we are teaching! He's also just a nice guy. A nice Tajik family man who is here to help put his kids through school.
Armen and Arman are the Armenian twins who got baptised last summer. They're just a bit ball full of energy. Armen is moving to Moscow later this week. (if things work out). And it will be the last time we see him. Pretty sad, but Moscow will be better for him than Barnaul. They are the best member missionaries ever. They always give us contacts of people they meet on transport, or on the street. They just go for it and have no fear of sharing the gospel. This week we met with Armen and a friend, Edward, and taught the Plan of Salvation.
Sunday rolled around, and Arman went with us to give a blessing to one of our members. Their lives have made a full 180 turn around since finding the gospel, and embracing it. I can't even explain how their lives have been blessed by coming unto Christ through Baptism and striving to follow his example.
We got transfer calls this week! I honestly wasn't expecting any changes. But that's when they come I guess. Elder Yungfleisch is being transfered to Omsk! He'll be in my old area there! I'm super excited for him, and It's good to know that the members and investigators there will have such an awesome missionary working in their area and Branch. I'll be serving here in Barnaul still, and I'll be with Elder Gardner, who has been in Omsk(but in the other branch) since coming into the mission for his first 4 transfers.
Elder Yungfleisch have perfected our bread maker's performance, and have also perfected the tortilla recipe. We're proving that it is possible to make good Mexican food on this side of the planet! We think we'll come home making better Mexican food than the missionaries serving in Mexico. Just because they never have to cook for themselves, and we never don't cook for ourselves. Unless we have lazy days, when we get 1 dollar pizza. from the little grill on the street corner outside our apartment.
So Wednesday we'll leave early in the morning to get to Novosibirsk by 1 am, when I'll meet up with Elder Garnder who will be fresh off the plane from his Helsinki Visa run, then we'll get on a bus and be back in Barnaul by Wednesday night.
So here goes another transfer!
Hope you're all enjoying the spring... send some over this way.
Take care, and find a little extra time to pray!
With Love,
Elder Moore
Pictures:
On our way with Arman to give a blessing after church
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