March 18, 2013

Hello family!!

This has been a good week. Tuesday this week no one wanted to talk to us. Or if they did they didn't say very nice things...days like that happen but by the end of the day it is usually just funny. We did meet with a couple of our investigators.  Wednesday we had cultural day which actually turned out really cool. There is a place here that built historical houses from different countries like Ukraine, Russia, and Armenia, Georgia...I don't remember all of them but there was like 8-9. Each one is a separate museum but you can walk through and there is someone there to tell you about them. Ukraine was the best. The lady that showed us around was able to practice her English version of the tour and did a great job. She also had a beautiful voice and sang for us. And then sold us her CD. It was so worth it. She also gave us her number and told us to come back anytime for free.  She wanted to know more about why we are here. So pretty effective culture day too. In Ukraine they believe a home is like a living man. It laughs and cries according to the people that live there. It shows it's personality through the things in it, like the things on the wall, pictures etc. Fridays were holy days because that is when they would bake bread. You weren't allowed to argue on Friday’s they have a bed directly on top of the oven where 5-6 people would sleep. I don't remember what else but it was way cool.

Thursday was crazy. We have been finding a lot of potentials lately from calling off old lists; tracting, contacting and we met with 4 of them on Thursday. Artak believes in god but not eternal life. He brought his friend Misha who is an atheist and came to show us that we were not living correctly...that was an interesting meeting. Then Aleksey (I can't spell in English) who we found while he was playing the guitar. And then some other guy named Aleksey (shoot, I have no idea...) we knocked on his door and gave him and invitation to church. He called us and showed up while we were at the church building. That was sweet. Friday we had district meeting and then we met with our branch president. He was inactive when he received the calling and recently divorced but has two sons who are way cool. A break dancer and a weightlifter. Saturday we talked to a Russian Orthodox priest who tried to call us to repentance and got frustrated when it didn't work. And then yesterday we met with a way cool potential. We knocked his door probably my 2nd day here. He immediately knew who we were and told us he had been to Utah and saw the Salt Lake Temple. He couldn't meet with us then but gave us his number to meet later. Yesterday it finally worked out. He is 65 and takes care of his 90 year old parents. His dad fought on the front of the war and his mom was a nurse. They are both deaf but told some way cool stories. He is currently writing a book about them. He knows the history of our church but has never talked with missionaries before. So...we don't know what will happen but we are excited to find out. He directed a musical group for 35 years in Siberia that did a couple tours in America. He lived with a Mormon family in St. George for a couple weeks and they gave him a Book of Mormon and went to church with them.

It sounds like your weekend together was way fun. The backpacks look way good! Well done mom!

Now that all the good news is out of the way. On Saturday I looked at my camera and all of my pictures were gone. I don't know when or how really but...I don't have a single picture of the first year of my mission. My companions will have some but...all the same I am mourning a little bit. I’ll try not to think about it. I am sending the memory card home with an elder that is going home in 4 weeks he says he might be able to look at the deep file of the card and they might be there. I feel like I am mourning but I can't do anything so...there yam go. Shoot. I will try to document the last 6 months as well as I can.

Well, love you all!!! Mom, Dad, thanks for writing me every week!!

Love,
Cectpa Pearce