Great investigators...Visa Trip to Helsinki Finland...

Hey Everyone,

Hope all is well on the home front. The following is a brief outline of what my week was like here in Dyoma. It was probably the busiest and the biggest roller coaster of a ride week yet! However, it’s always an amazing journey from week to week! Okay, let’s get down to business…

We had a regular p-day on Monday with a bit of rain. We had lunch with Elders Bagmet and Thomas...which is always a great time. Later that evening, we had an awesome meeting with our investigator, Tanya. She was still feeling pretty shy during our meeting, however she is really starting to open up to us... Awesome! Afterwards we came home, grabbed some groceries, and called it a day.
We went to the hospital for the last time on Tuesday to visit Fanilya (she was released later that day). It was actually kind of a bummer to say goodbye to all our friends we made there in her hospital room. We had two additional meetings with inactive members and another meeting with our investigator Marat, a pretty cool kid about 17 or 18. He is writing his own fiction book about philosophers or something of the sort. It sounds like it will be a really cool book.
We had district meeting as usual on Wednesday, and then grabbed lunch with some other elders. I’ve decided that I am finally beginning to like Russian food. We had small thin pancakes with chicken and peppers in it and it was pretty great stuff. Later we came home and had a meeting with a really cool less active kid. He enjoyed visiting with us, and filled us in on the recent movie and other interesting happenings that my friends from home forget to mention! Thanks guys! On the way home, we stopped by Fanilya to check up on her and to make sure she was doing okay and we had another great meeting.
On Thursday, we met with quite a few members, both active and less active. The members here in Dyoma are really great people and a lot of fun to work with.
I finally got a much-needed hair cut on Friday. It was the longest time I spent in a barber chair…It took the lady about an hour to cut my hair! It was interesting, but no worries it turned out okay. Not a mullet!!!! Later, we had our weekly planning/baking session… haha! It was pretty fun…Move over grandma, there’s a new chief in the kitchen!!! Haha! I have become quite the domestic guru…yeah right! I'm going to have to start marketing my cookies! Don’t worry… I only have one cookie and give the rest away as fast as possible. We had another meeting with Marat and he gave us a little more detail about his book. He sure enjoys talking, it’s somewhat difficult to get any floor time…haha… he is still a really nice kid. We also had a meeting with Fanilya. We are trying to work with her as much as possible to keep her on the right track and happy!
We had a sport activity on Saturday, but unfortunately, not too many people showed up. It was still fun. I accidentally knocked down elder Bagmet (a huge 6'5 Ukrainian giant) and so he got up and was joking around with me and accidentally kicked me in the face… it was pretty funny, but painful. Later, we went to their apartment and he fixed us some Ukrainian food. It was pretty dang good! One of our meetings fell through so we returned home in the pouring rain. And what did we do once we got home? We BAKED! We made some great brownies, and although they were pretty tasty, I limited myself to a half of one…WHAT GREAT WILL POWER!
We had an amazing Sacrament meeting on Sunday. I was excited to see Tanya come out and she really enjoyed it. We gave the members the brownies we made, and they thought they died and went to heaven or something like that. They don’t have brownies here in Russia! It’s only when us missionaries make them. Later in the day, we met with Tanya and a member that helped out during the meeting. Later that night, we met with Fanilya. It's great to see how well she is doing.
Often times it’s difficult to see one’s own progress, but for some reason this past week, I had a glimpse into some of my own progress and hope someday I can see it more fully. I love Dyoma and I love my mission! I love just working my tail off because it makes the mission life worth every bit of it. I am grateful for all the blessings I have received thus far into my mission. I have yet so much more to accomplish and time is closing in.
Well that’s it from this end of the world. I’m off to Helsinki Finland for another visa trip. I may be a day late in my email home. I am looking forward to meeting up with my group of missionaries and the opportunity to attend the temple. I hope you all have a great week and tell grandpa and grandma Beus “happy 50th”! I wish I could be there on Saturday for their big celebration with everyone!! I hope you all have a great time.
Make it a great week!
Love,
Elder Dewey

A shepherd in Israel...meat fat in jello form...tasty...not!

Dear Family and Friends,

I apologize for the weak email last week. I came down with a bad cold and then I started to recover for a few days, but it hit me again yesterday. It is probably because of the weather change. It has rained here in Ufa for what seemed to be for days, and then warmed up for a bit and then rain again.
Anyway, last week we again went to the Vietnamese market in Dyoma with some of the other missionaries. We all got an awesome deal on a few ties…AGAIN! Ha-ha. We made our purchase from this crazy lady who couldn’t speak Russian too well, and after we finished our purchased, the crazy lady laughed and hit my arm and called me “SNEAKY”…haha!
We had a busy Tuesday with some great meetings and then an awesome visit with Fanyila who is still in the hospital. The people in her room wanted to look at our pictures (Russians love to see pictures from America). One of the older ladies made fun of how fat I used to be, but said that it’s okay because I’ve lost the weight…haha! She now calls me “KING KONG”…haha…pretty funny! We made snickerdoodle cookies for them and took them to the hospital. They don’t make cookies like that here in Russia and so they asked us for the recipe, but I told them ” it is a family secret recipe never to be reveled”…haha! Then they got mad at me…haha! It was fun to tease with them.
We had a great district meeting and then a good meeting with Tanya. We had another meeting scheduled with our other investigator, but disappointed when she didn’t show up, but pleasantly surprised when she came out to our activity on Friday…there is still hope! For some weird reason I didn’t have her number right in my phone and she didn’t have mine right so all is okay!
Both my comp and I were pretty sick on Thursday and Friday so unfortunately we didn’t get a whole lot done but try and heal. We had a great activity Friday evening where we taught the articles of faith to the members and investigators. We had the help of some other missionaries and church leaders. My companion and I had the twelve article of faith…one my favorites! Too bad, I only have it memorized in Russian …haha! It was a great activity!! I was pretty sick all evening but tried not to think about until it just got to me. I rode the bus home with Tanya and Matthew (a member missionary age kid.) The bus was jammed pack.
We had a fun service project on Saturday at a broken down building the church owns in Dyoma where they want to build a new church. It was great to see investigators come out to join us to do service. I have a great deal of respect for them because if some asked me, "Hey you should come clean up a bunch of trash at some old torn down building with us and when it’s over we will give you a cookie and a glass of juice.” I hate to admit, but I would probably would’ve said heck no. We also made some more cookies to take to the church. I’m not a real fan of cookies, but these actually turned out really good. Later that afternoon we had lunch with Elder Thomas and Bagmet. I love those guys. We had a birthday lunch after church on Sunday for Valentina, a member here in Dyoma. I tried Holadets!!!!! Its fat and meat in jello form!!!!!!! Yeah, it was so tasty… haha!! Honestly, I thought I was going to die! It was pretty fun and I guess I needed the experience. They said it wouldn’t make me fat because it will just slip right through the system unnoticed …haha! It was pretty nasty. After the party was over, I washed all the dishes. I had all the ladies amazed that I was doing the dishes. They said I’m going to make some girl very happy. I will happily do the dishes in America with a dishwasher haha! It’s all by hand here! Haha.

Well that’s about it for this week. The work here with our investigators is going well, and we remain hopeful.

Make it a great week!
Love,
Elder Dewey
P.S The answer to last week’s email is a Shepherd in Israel!!!! You win mom!!
P.S.S. This internet plays the best music! I miss my music!!!!!!

A quick hello...

Hey Fam and Friends,

I'm sorry, but I lost the track of time and so this week's email is extremely short. I will make up for it next week. We had a great past week and we are working hard. We have a lot of meetings scheduled for this upcoming week. The weather has turned off cooler and rained most of the week. Maybe summer is officially over here in Russia? Only time will tell. I promise to fill you in on more detail in next weeks email. Just know that all is well and I'm still lovin every second and time is going much too fast.

Okay, here is something I want to leave you with, and please make sure you make a comment on the blog as to your guess...

From the following list - what is the one adventure you think I would like to experience;

• Live alone in the Alaskan woods for a week
• Bike across America
• Be a Shepherd in Israel
• Be a fisher in Greece
• Live in the Australian Outback

I will reveal my answer in next weeks email.

Have a great week,

Elder Chad M Dewey

splits...picking cherries...more ties...

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all had a great week. Life in Dyom hasn’t changed a whole lot since my last email...still pickin cherries!lol. We had a great week and still hard at work. Here is a quick run down.
we went tie shopping for pday last week with some of the other missionaries, but nothing we found was up to par for me so I didn’t snag any. Later, we started our splits, which gave me the opportunity to work with Elder Thomas. He is a great Elder and we had a great time. Tuesday, while still on splits, we stopped by the Vietnamese Market in Dyoma. It was interesting to see that everything that was for sale was made in China. There were so many Vietnamese people there, and I found it kind of funny that I cold speak better Russian… not to be cocky or anything.lol. Oh, and we were able to snag 13 ties in total, all with amazing discounts. Later we went to visit a member who lives in Avdon, a little city outside of Ufa. It wasn’t that long of a trip, and I enjoyed seeing more of Russia’s countryside. She fed us some great tasting cabbage soup. She is an awesome and extremely kind lady. We had a great lesson with her as well.
After we returned to Dyoma, we went cherry picking again at Nina’s garden!!! It was a great time, except for when I came close to falling out of a tree. Not quite sure what happened, I guess I lost my footing or something. When we returned home that night we had a good long chat and soon realized that we talked most of the night away and didn’t get a whole lot of sleep…it was great though.
District Meeting was Wednesday and a few meetings with members. We stopped by the hospital to visit with Fanyila and take her some of my favorite peach juice. It seriously is the best juice I have ever tasted. I wish I could take it back with me to the states. We also stopped by to see her the following day as well.
The weather here as turned a little cooler with some added rain, which is a nice change from the heat. I guess you all know what hot weather is all about. Who knows, we may have experienced our last bit of warm weather and may be in for more cooler weather yet to come, but not quite time to pull out the warm Russian digs yet.
We watched the Testament for an activity back at the church building in Ufa. It was great to have one of the girls from Dyoma attend, she normally only comes out to English. She said she would like to start meeting with us and find out more about the church. We have a meeting with her tonight, I’m pretty stoked!
I taught Sunday school in church this past week, which was an interesting experience.
Well, that’s it for now. Remember to email me as often as you can. I love getting your emails so please keep it up.
Thanks for all your love and support,

Elder Chad M. Dewey

Broken sofa bed...Cherries anyone?

Pickin Cherries

Elder Shreeves and Elder Dewey




street contacting

Dear Family and Friends,

I am sending six pictures today, which takes a while to do on the computers here so this email will have to be a short one. I know the pictures will make mom happy.
We worked a lot with less actives and active members this past week. The branch Presidency here loves me because I mentioned that I like to shoot shotguns, and since a lot of them are hunters I fit right in. They would like for me to stay in Dyoma for a while. Honestly, I would love to stay, but I might have to go on to something else...one never knows. You just always have to be prepared to go on to do whatever is needed and asked of you.

We had the opportunity again to pick cherries.I love picking cherries, but not the biggest fan of eating them. We also had our apartment inspected by President Allcott last Monday, which I was a little nervous about, hoping he didn't think we lived like slobs. I try to keep the apartment somewhat clean, but lets face it, I'm a typical guy! haha! Anyway, the inspection wasn't too bad. President Allcott told me to get a new bed if possible because I currently sleep on a old sofa that is broken in half, it's pretty pathetic. However, I don't think I will have much luck convincing our landlady that I need a new bed though, for some reason she doesn't take a liking to missionaries..

Let's see what else is new.... just working hard as usual. Some sad news, our investigator with a baptismal date, broke her leg and because of hospital rules, she will most likely be there for the rest of the summer. We are going to stop by to see how she is doing.

I have also been coming up with a theory about how most people get consumed or caught up in worrying about life's uncontrolable prolbems. It goes off the theory from the book of the seven most highly effective people or something like that. ( I don't know exactly what it is called...haha!) The theory is that the concerns most people have are contained in a large circle, however we can only control a portion of that circle (concerns) or a smaller circle within the large one. So, we should spend our time focused on the problems we can control or solve, and possibly the smaller circle will eventually get large enough that we will worry less about stuff we can't fix or change. There is a lot more to this, but I'm almost out time so I need to cut this short.

I hope you enjoy the pictures, some are of a culture activity when we went to the Romanov's site where they were killed- (meaning Anastasia and her family.) I have one here in Dyoma picking cherries as well.

I love you all! Have a good week and thanks for your love and support.

Love,

Elder Dewey!!!