Monday, January 25, 2010

A note from Elder Dewey's mom -

Chad cleared up a few of my questions about maintaining a blog.  He informed me that his blog is okay to publish as long as he is not the one maintaining it.  I apologize for the confusion. 

Restless sleep, warmer freezing weather, transfers next week...

Hello everyone,




Well, I wasn’t really able to write my weekly email home before hand because my companion and I are now living with zl’s because of some apartment trouble..... don’t worry though they have a very soft ground at their place... haha. Anyway, this week was a doozey and since I've had restless sleep lately my memory isn’t serving me too well right now and I’m having trouble remembering everything that happened last week.
On a good note…we have a couple of new investigators who we are working with and seeing some great progress, which is pretty exciting.
Transfers are coming up. I’ve been a little more nervous about this transfer more than usual, I guess because this transfer will determine where I will spend and finish up the rest of my mission. I won’t learn if I will be staying where I am or if I will be transfered to a new area until Friday, I guess it’s a wait and see.
The weather is starting to get a little warmer which makes our work (contacting) a little more pleasant. It’s still below freezing but it’s not unbearably cold.
I had a great time translating for the Nehrings in church this past Sunday again. I really enjoy translating, but I don’t ever think I would like to be a translator.
Lately, I have been thinking about the future (don’t worry…I’m not at all trunky) and bugging my companion and asking him a million questions about what I should major in. I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I would like to do something in the medical field, possibly a pediatrician. I really love kids and nothing could be better than helping them with their health.
I am enjoying speaking the Russian language more than ever. I sure hope I don’t forget it, that’s become a big fear of mine. I will have to continue to study the language when I get home.
I know this is a pretty uneventful email. I hope to have more news for you next week. The work here is going better and things are looking up and hope is getting stronger. I hope you all have a great week. Continue to pray for the Russian people.


Love,


Elder Dewey

Monday, January 11, 2010

Hello Everyone,


I hope everyone had a really good week. As for me, it was one of those weeks. To be honest, I’ve had better weeks. I don’t want to go into much detail, I just want to take this new week and make it a  better one than last week. I refuse to let unfortunte things said or done get to me.
There were a few good moments; we are working with this new less active guy who looks exactly like Charlie Chaplin, it’s pretty funny, he seems to be a real nice guy. Tuesday we had a really cool experience, a guy from our English class who knows English fairly well took us out to dinner to talk about more English phrases and in what cases they should be used. He took us to a really great pizza place. Christmas was on Thursday here in Russia. Yep, Christmas for Russians is on January 7th. We had English club and surprisingly some people came even on Christmas! I would never go to a club on Christmas, seemed somewhat strange. On Saturday we were able to go see a baptism in the other branch, it was a great experience and very cool. Then we all went to our branch to have a Family Home Evening for those who can’t really do it at their own homes or have trouble. It was a fun time, we played a lot of fun games and there was a spiritual thought given. I really love working with the youth here in Russia they have so much potential, they are truly amazing people.




Well, I need to run. Love you all.






Elder Dewey

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Happy New Year...parties, personality tests, long legs, small seats, Nutcracker and NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS...





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Dear Family and Friends,

This is another episode of writing home and another attempt at writing my letters before hand. It gives me a little extra time to put some thought behind the words instead of a bunch rambling thoughts thrown out into cyber space.
This week was a pretty crazy one with New Years and having to stay home cooped up in our apartment. There is too much that happens out on the streets here to be out amongst the craziness. Some may welcome this opportunity not having to be out in the freezing temperature, however I prefer the numbing cold and the feeling of being productive rather than sitting in an apartment feeling like the walls are closing in. There is only so much studying one can do.

The following are a few of the highlights from this past week. On Monday, we found a really nice tie store. I found the coolest tie I have ever seen on my mission and dedicated it to my new niece Piper Jane Dewey. It’s pretty weird that I am not there to hold her and be the coolest uncle ever, but I have to give everyone else a head start (you all need it...just wait until I get home!! haha! Of course you all know I will steal her heart once I get the chance to spoil her rotten. I will be her favorite!! Congrats to BJ and Britt on their new baby girl. She is pretty dang cute, however I might have to call in a blood test to see who the real Papa is because I didn’t think my bro could create something that good looking. Maybe it skips the first son in the family or something. I can’t wait to hold her! I will have to teach her all the tricks that will drive her dad crazy. I just want my bro to know I don’t do the whole dirty diaper thing though!
Anyway, Wednesday we had a great district meeting. It was funny because we took a personality test. I am sure everyone knows what those things are. This test matched you up with certain colors to your personality type. Turns out I am half red and half yellow. Red means I am very aggressive and like to be in control of situations. It also means I am very straight forward and don’t like to beat around the bush. Red also includes being cocky... I like to call it confident. Yellow means I love to have fun and be around people a lot. It also, means that I like attention and like to get compliments and I always want everyone to be happy and have a good time. So basically, to sum it all up with these colors mixed together I am aggressive, intimidating, cocky, fun loving, friendly, happy, and a complimentary loving person! But hey, I am who I am and I am okay with that. I can only really remember mostly the bad parts of the tests results because everyone was teasing me and giving me a hard time, but its okay. All those things can be controlled and used to my advantage. I am happy with who I am, if we don’t have different people in the world it wouldn’t work...if everyone had red personalities than it would be one big power struggle. With all yellow no one would stop from having too much fun! There’s was also the colors, blue and white but I can’t remember what the meanings were because I didn’t have any of those attributes haha. Luckily, God made us all with different personalities to give life a little bit of flavor and variety.

Moving on...
We went to the Nutcracker on Wednesday. It was pretty funny because my original seat didn’t have enough leg room. (I wasn’t just complaining, I really couldn’t even sit down!) So I went over and got the lady working there and she didn’t believe me and thought I was being unreasonable, so I kindly asked her to come see for herself. Once she actually saw my actual seat she was pretty shocked, and I said “yep, we are pretty big in America”… haha - everyone laughed and gave me the end seat with all the leg room I needed! The ballet was really cool and even better to see it in Russia. And of course, I am sure you are all aware that the man who wrote the music is a Russian!
Thursday we had our “New Years Eve” party, sitting at home! Haha! I made some really great tacos. (mom, I hope you know how much I loved you being my personal cook and maid) I know from experience now that its not the easiest thing to do. I think I would make a good mom because I just deal with it and don’t get mad. The conflicts are not worth it. The only thing that drives me nuts is when I am hard at work in the kitchen cooking some really good food like tacos or chow mien or something cool, and the only thing my companion can do is just stand there and watch, scratching his hungry stomach! That drives me nuts. (Please note - this is no companion in particular… haha - many have done it.)

I made some good “New Years Resolutions” which include (in no particular order) …
1. Tell those that I love more often that I love them.
2. Mountain bike at least 3 times a month with dad

3. Do any dirty dishes that are out.

4. Continue to do my own laundry when I get home
5. Meditate for at least 5 minutes a day.

6. Don’t use stupid slang (even Mormon slang)

7. Never go a day without giving at least 1 compliment.

8. Eat healthier.

9. This one is pending…Find my future wife.

Remember that last one is pending, please don’t forget! Haha…I don’t want to jinx it and give myself bad luck!

Well, those are just a few of my goals for the year just the fun ones. I have more serious goals, but hey I will leave those to myself… haha!


Love yall ! Have a good week!


Love, Elder Dewey! ~ qensuha!@!!