Monday, March 30, 2009

Elder Dewey Split down the middle of Asia and Europe...

(Pictures taken by Elder Holden...thanks for sharing!) Elder Dewey split down the middle of Europe and Asia


Elder Holden and Elder Dewey

Elder Holden took this picture for Sister Dewey of Elder Dewey giving the Russian fig.


Visa Trip to Helsinki Finland March 2009

Elder Dewey, Elder Holden, Elder Campbell, and Elder Stewart


Hey Everyone,
Here we go with yet another lame email. I forgot my planner at home so I am trying to remember what went on last week. After receiving your email with the wedding pictures my brain is not quite in the right frame of mind! After seeing the great pic’s its hard not to be homesick and wishing I could have been there to join in on the happy occasion and all the excitement. However, since I am on the other side of the world the pic's will have to suffice…UGH! It looks like the wedding turned out to be a great success and everyone looks happy. Congrats BJ and Brit! Job well done!! You two make a great couple!!
Well, my week will seem a bit hum -drum compared to your exciting week back at home, but here is a quick rundown - Monday, we had a really cool meeting with a man from Africa who speaks French. We watched a movie about Joseph Smith in French. I didn’t understand what was being said, but since I have seen the film so many times, it was fine. He even prayed in French…what a cool language! We answered some of his questions and from his response, he seems “golden”. He really enjoys reading the Book of Mormon and agrees that it supports the Bible. He is an amazing investigator! It is always uplifting and exciting to have the opportunity to teach a “golden” investigator! I have not quite recovered from the flu, it still seems to be hanging on a bit. I have also been trying to fight off a little homesickness. Man, those pictures really have me a bit homesick! It was great to see all the family in the pictures though. I sure wish I could have been there, I guess I've already said that...UGH! However, it was cool to talk to everyone before the "Big Day". I guess that could've added to the homesickness and being a tad trunky...haha. I'm sure I will pull myself out of it and recover quickly. haha! My comp, elder Mckenna also hit his two-year mark and we went to this place called Sundays to celebrate, it was pretty good. I had plov, which is a Russian rice dish. He will be headed for home in a few weeks. This will be my second companion I will have sent packing! Friday, we had a great meeting with a woman and her three girls. I gave the spiritual thought and then we had orange soda floats, which was great! We all had a good time. I really love the members here in my branch and I believe they like me as well, at least I hope they do! Haha! Sunday, we had our regular meetings and took sacrament to an older woman. We also met with the blind member again. He is a real nice guy and tells some pretty crazy stories. This morning we went to the Asia /Europe border…how many people can say they have been on two continents at the same time! After Internet, we are going to hit up subway. Anyway, sorry for the lame email I am just having a hard time this week. I really wish I could have been at the wedding...oh yeah, I already said that!!!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Dewey

Elder Chad Dewey's New Sister- In Law...Brittney Dewey


BJ and Brit Dewey
married March 27th 2009






We miss you Chad!We had a few visitor's from the past drop by for pictures!
Britt's adorable brother's
Grandpa Beus with Skylar and Samantha

Grandma Beus with Braydn, Taryn and Skylar

These two were looking pretty good until...


these two came along...Grant (Brit's brother) and Samantha (BJ's cousin) danced the night away!


Bribed by her mother, Samantha danced her first dance with Grant and ended up on the dance floor the entire night! These two showed off some pretty amazing dance moves! By the end of the night Samantha forgot all about the hamster bribe...or did she?


Adorable!



Hilarious! (great job cousins!)

Monday, March 23, 2009

Back from the dead...

Hello from the dark grave,

Sorry for another short and lame email. This week was pretty uneventful due to some crazy illness/flu I've had all week. For some odd reason this past Monday I felt deathly ill. We went back to my apartment and I went straight to bed. I woke up Tuesday with a fever of 104 and shaking uncontrollably. My companion was pretty freaked out so he called the ZLs and they came over. They filled me with some drugs, basically some random stuff with whatever we could find, (who knows what the heck it all was) and then I kind of just passed out on my bed for a few hours still shaking. While the ZL's were on the phone with Sister Allen, President Allen and the doctor in Moscow, Elder Shreeve told the doc that I was "passed out". (in Shreeve's mind I was sleeping.) The Doc flipped out and wanted us to go to the hospital right away, which we almost did however, Sister Allen saved me! She didn't like the idea of the hospital because they generally like to keep you there for a lengthy stay of three days or longer. Sister Allen suggested that I guzzle some water to help from becoming too dehydrated. I was basically the sickest I have ever been in my life. I couldn't keep anything down and I became dehydrated. I also had the chills with uncontrollable shakes, a blazing sore throat, a stomach on fire, a head exploding,body aches/pain, and a really sore tongue. It was all so bizarre. I've never experienced anything like it and never wish to again. So yeah... I was sick the whole stickin week! We had a few meetings, during which time I was trying not to cough uncontrollably. So, coming close to death I managed to survive, thanks to Sister Allen and some great ZL's that did their best to bring me back from the dead. I almost died though... that's cool! haha! What a story huh? Don't freak mom...I am still alive and on the mend! Besides, I didn't want to steal BJ's week of fame! It's hard to believe as of this Friday he will be a married man! I wish BJ and Britt the Best! Good luck everyone and have an awesome wedding week!
Love ya all!!
Elder Dewey

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Visa Trip to Helsinki Finland...

Hey Everyone,

My letter for this week will be really short due to the fact that I'm sick and my head is about to explode. So this week was a pretty good week. We had a few good meetings. The one on Monday night with a member lady invited her friend over and we had a spiritual thought and then played some games which was fun. Wednesday we had district meeting and a little missionary meeting later that night. Thursday was a good working day we did a lot of contacting and then helped some elders move an apartment. Friday was time for another visa trip to Helsinki Finland. We picked people up at bus stations and train stations and then met at the APs apartment and the next morning we took a flight out to St. Petes. Once we arrived in St. Petes we took two small buses to Helsinki Finland. I love Finland, it looks exactly like Idaho on the countryside part of it and then in the city its very clean. I would love to go back someday. We didn't get the chance to go to the temple though, that was a let down. So we had a few hours that night to wander around Helsinki and took in some really cool sites, and later had a great steak dinner. Then the next morning we left back to Russia. It was a long trip and some where along the way I got sick. So last night I was up all night with a temp, shaking and coughing. It was pretty intense, but I am sure I will survive. OKay, sorry for the short letter. I love you all bye!
Love Elder Dewey.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Mission Tour with Elder Larry W. Gibbons...


Dear Families,
We have just completed a mission tour with Elder Larry W. Gibbons, a member of the Europe East Area Presidency. The missionaries were able to meet him, and to be instructed by him. We are grateful that our mission has been able to have this experience. We appreciate the support that you give your missionary. We love and appreciate each one.
Our best,
President and Sister Allen

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Botanichesky Ekat Branch enjoyed a picnic in the forest of Ekat...

This picture came from the McEvoy's blog. The first week in Botanichesky Yekaterinberg Elder Dewey enjoyed a wonderful zone conference with an opportunity to meet, and interview with Elder Larry H. Gibbons of the Seventy. In addition, Elder Dewey enjoyed a great picnic with the members of his new branch in Botanichesky Ekat. The branch celebrated the holiday March 8th (a holiday celebrating women) with a picnic in the forest of Ekat. They feasted on hot dogs and homemade sauerkraut, tossed the football, and went sledding. Looks soooo cold, but soooo FUN! You can go to the McEvoy's blog to read more and view additional pictures. Thanks McEvoys for making your mission come alive through your blog! We love all your wonderful pictures and descriptions of your mission life there in Yekaterinburg Russia!

(Elder Dewey is that tall guy in the very back on the end with the hood.)

Monday, March 9, 2009

Zone Conference in Ekat with Elder Larry W. Gibbons from the Seventy...

English Club in Chely




Hello from Ekat,

It has been an amazing and eventful week.
Monday – My last P-day in Chely.
Tuesday – I left Chely and arrived in Ekat Botanica. We have a very cool apartment on the top floor of a 16-story building with a great view. The area is clean and well kept. However, come spring everything turns to mud.
We had our first district meeting and finally met up with Elder Shreeve from mesa. It was cool to see him again. I love that kid. Its great being around other Elders…they are all very cool.
On Thursday we had a meeting with a lady in Himash (another area we cover in Ekat) we also went contacting.
We had a branch picnic up in the hills of Ekat. It was a great opportunity to get to know some of the members. The branch here seems to be awesome.
Sunday – The most AWESOME DAY!! We had a combined Sunday meeting with the Bontanica branch and another one in Ekat. Elder Larry W.Gibbons of the Seventy and Sister Gibbons spoke. They were amazing! He shared a few stories about his mission and serving with Leo and Paul. Later we had zone conference where Elder Gibbons taught us about how members are the best source of missionary work. I also had the opportunity to be one of the few from our zone to be interviewed by Elder Gibbons. What a great experience the whole day turned out to be...inspiring and uplifting!!
I want everyone at home to know how amazing it is to be a missionary here in Russia. It's definitely not the easiest with its many challenges, but I can't imagine serving my mission any where else. I have no doubt that this is where I am meant to be. I love my mission and I am so grateful for this opportunity to be able to serve the Russian people. These past eleven months I have had a great opportunity to serve with and around many other amazing missionaries whom I have learned a great deal from and have developed some great friendships that I hope will last even after the mission is over. I also have some amazing friendships back at home and grateful to all of you for your encouraging messages, prayers, love and support. I love you all and thank you for all you do and your great examples.

Love,
Elder Dewey

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Visitor - Elder Larry W. Gibbons of the seventy...

Elder Larry W. Gibbons of the seventy will be touring the Yekaterinburg Mission this next week. The mission will also be welcoming Patriarch Thomas Rogers who will give out over 100 patriarchal blessings to the Russian members.This information was retrieved from the McEvoy's blog. Please refer to their blog for more information. (Thanks McEvoy's!)

Monday, March 2, 2009

Last week in Chely...transfering to Ekat

Hello Everyone,

I apologize for last weeks email. I am not sure what happened or why the email did not send. I will resend it today. Wow! I am still trying to wrap my head around the idea of BJ and Britt getting married…and so soon! And, they are getting my car! You can tell BJ that I took Britt out in that car! Britt calls that night our "EMO night", but there was some flirting going on…haha. All joking aside, I am excited for both of them! It will be great to have Britt in our family! She will make a great sister in-law. A while back I bought an awesome all white paisley tie to wear when I get married, but now that BJ is getting married and I wont be there I am sending it to him so a part of me can be there with him. I hope he will like it.
Anyway, let’s kick this email off -
MONDAY! …it was a ROCKIN MONDAY! We played some sports with the other missionaries in the –zero-ish temps, but still had a great time! Later in the day, Elder C and I went on splits to his area known as Lenonski. We went to a FHE of the district president from Chely and his family. They are super awesome people. Elder C and I gave a spiritual thought on miracles. I gave my thought on every day miracles and honestly I think it was an amazing spiritual thought, not because of what we did or said, but because there was a non-member girl there (presidents niece). She added her thought which was great! She is interested in finding out more about the church, which really left me with a smile on my face.
Later in the week, we met with Danic. We taught him about the plan of salvation…I love that lesson! It is the perfect plan! We also did a lot of tracting this past week. We LOVE tracting and being yelled at. It is somewhat a different experience here in Chely. Everyone lives in one big building and we have to shout through the doors so we always come across people who think we are annoying and they scream back at us…you gotta love it!
Friday, we had our transfer clean for three hours, which was a big pain in the bum…haha! JK! I also had to pack up and get ready to be shipped out.
We had a sports activity on Saturday, which was great fun until some drunken guy became extremely annoying as he pretended to be our Russian cheerleader. It was actually funny.
I am sure going to miss this area and especially serving around Elder C. He has become a great friend.
Since this Sunday would be my last Sunday before my transfer, I bore my testimony and expressed my gratitude for the opportunity I had to get to know the people in the branch. I will definitely miss all the great members here. We also gave a missionary presentation where I had to drink water without using my hands. A Babushka helped me drink it. You really had to be there to see how WAY FUNNY it was!

Got to Run!

Love ya,
Elder Dewey

Last week in Chely...transfering to Ekat

Hello Everyone,
I apologize for last weeks email. I am not sure what happened or why the email did not send. I will resend it today. Wow! I am still trying to wrap my head around the idea of BJ and Britt getting married…and so soon! And, they are getting my car! You can tell BJ that I took Britt out in that car! Britt calls that night our EMO night, but there was some flirting going on…haha. All joking aside, I am excited for both of them! It will be great to have Britt in our family! She will make a great sister in-law. A while back I bought an awesome all white paisley tie to wear when I get married, but now that BJ is getting married and I wont be there I am sending it to him so a part of me can be there with him. I hope he will like it.
Anyway, let’s kick this email off -
MONDAY! …it was a ROCKIN MONDAY! We played some sports with the other missionaries in the –zero-ish temps, but still had a great time! Later in the day, Elder C and I went on splits to his area known as Lenonski. We went to a FHE of the district president from Chely and his family. They are super awesome people. Elder C and I gave a spiritual thought on miracles. I gave my thought on every day miracles and honestly I think it was an amazing spiritual thought, not because of what we did or said, but because there was a non-member girl there (president niece). She added here thought which were great! She is interested in finding out more about the church, which really left me with a smile on my face.
Later in the week, we met with Danic. We taught him about the plan of salvation…I love that lesson! It is the perfect plan! We also did a lot of tracting this past week. We LOVE tracting and being yelled at. It is somewhat a different experience here in Chely. Everyone lives in one big building and we have to shout through the doors so we always come across people who think we are annoying and they scream back at us…you gotta love it!
Friday, we had our transfer clean for three hours, which was a big pain in the bum…haha! JK! I also had to pack up and get ready to be shipped out.
We had a sports activity on Saturday, which was great fun until some drunken guy became extremely annoying as he pretended to be our Russian cheerleader. It was actually funny.
I am sure going to miss this area and especially serving around Elder C. He has become a great friend.
Since this Sunday would be my last Sunday before my transfer, I bore my testimony and expressed my gratitude for the opportunity I had to get to know the people in the branch. I will definitely miss all the great members here. We also gave a missionary presentation where I had to drink water without using my hands. A Babushka helped me drink it. You really had to be there to see how WAY FUNNY it was!




Gotta Run,

Love ya!

English Club...a BIG HIT!! Transfering to Ekat next week...

Hey Everyone,

It was a great week, until today…ugh! I just found out that I am transferring to Bontanica in Ekat. I will be with Elder M, who will be going home at the end of the transfer. I sometimes feel I will be the “forever-young” elder and it is my duty to send the trunky older elders home.
This week started out with a great-shared birthday with Elder M. We celebrated our birthdays with some great cakes the sister made for us. Sister O made us an awesome tasty Russian cake! I loved it! Then Elder A and I played phase ten with the sisters. We of course let them win; it is the gentlemen thing to do. Later that day, we went to Zobkovy’s for a FHE, where we played UNO, which was great fun!
We had the best English class this past week! It was A TOTAL AND COMPLETE HIT!!! The BEST English I have ever attended! We had about 15-ish people in attendance. The subject was on directions, that was what Sister O wanted. We drew a map on the board of a made up city called Chillyabinskburghaha! We had them tell us how to go from point to point on the board. Then we made a maze in the church. I entertained the group by having them blind fold me and while they gave me directions I made my way around the maze. I didn’t even cheat by trying to peek. They all love it and had a great laugh. After our maze experience, we gave a spiritual thought about how the Gospel is our map back to God. The entire lesson and spiritual thought all clicked and fit together perfectly! It was a miracle.
We have been doing a lot of tracting this past week trying to find new investigators. We found a few people who gave us their numbers and who seem to be interested.
Friday was my birthday. I got a call from Elder C and A and the ZL’s and the McEvoys (the awesome office couple). After contacting, we came home and made some amazing chicken pillow. It is not the healthiest, but it taste good. Later that evening we had a great meeting with the coolest family ever, the Pervomyski’s. We had a great time playing with their kids and the balloons they had all over their home. Before I called it a night I took some time and wrote in my journal about some great thoughts that have been rolling around in my head.
We had another English class on Saturday and made some great tasting homemade root bear. They don’t have root bear here so they really loved it!

As I mentioned in the beginning, I just found out about transfers. It’s all great! Elder M is one of my favorites, so it should be a great experience. I’m always up for what ever comes my way. I just try to make the best out of whatever situation I’m faced with. I’ve actually have the greatest opportunities to see a lot of my mission and I have only been out ten months. And, I realize that I may never have this chance again, so it’s all good! Wherever the Lord needs me, I am willing to go.

I love you all,
Elder Dewey

P.S. Make it a great week!