Will it be Prague or Kazakhstan for Christmas? (visa trip destination changed last minute)

Note from mom -

I just finished reading the McEvoy's blog, where they posted about a visa trip destination change. Their group of missionaries will be headed to Kazakhstan instead of Prague (I believe Chad is in their same group...I'm not positive about that though). They are still unclear as to when they will return to Russia, it could be as little as a few days or a few weeks.
I have not heard from Chad, I believe he is making his way to Yekaterinburg to meet up with the rest of the missionaries in his group.

Christmas in Prague...(I wonder if Elder Dewey will still be able to call home for Christmas)

Hey Mom,

I’m not sure when I will have the chance to email again. I’m going to Prague for three weeks, which means I will be spending Christmas there. I was looking forward to spending it with the branch here I love and all these great people, but I will have a good time in Prague. I hear it is really pretty there and it will give me the chance to do some extra studying, meditating and finding inner peace, so I’m excited. We will be taking a bus to Freiberg Germany to attend the temple for five of those days and will be staying at the visitor's center, which will make it all worth while.

Interesting Sunday at church...

Hello Everyone,

My letter for this week is a bit shorter. This week has been a rough one, but I am still working my bum off. Since some of our investigators have decided to become disinterested in meeting with us, we have stepped up the hours we spend finding. If you remember in the last few emails when I spoke of our “golden” investigator, Leonid, who actually was working towards a baptismal date and was so anxious to become a member…well, apparently he had a unusual experience with a member and got a little freaked out. We haven’t been able to get a hold of him. What a huge disappointment! We hope to talk with him and find out exactly what happened and try to help him through the doubts and or concerns he might have.
Sunday was quite the experience. It was fast and testimony meeting and we had a guy come to church who believes he is an angel sent from God and begins to give his so called revelations. This is one Sunday I wish I was still a “greenie” and didn’t understand the Russian language…ugh! He was going on about some really weird stuff.
I got a call from Elder A in the office informing that I would be leaving for my visa trip on the 15th to Prague Czech Republic and from there we will take a bus to Finberg Germany to attend the temple. I’m really excited, but he didn’t know when we will be returning, which is a little weird. Holy Cow… I’m excited to attend the temple!!

Well, that's it for this week. I apologize my short email, we just have a lot we need to get done today.

Love you,
Elder Dewey

P.S. Since I will be traveling next week, I most likely won't be emailing home.

A Happy Thanksgiving in Kurgan...a few days late.

Hello from Russia,

I hope you all had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. Interesting enough, I woke up around 3:00 am (which for you is 3:00 pm) with the flu, and vomiting my guts out…somewhat ironic since you all at home were all sitting around the dinner table enjoying your Thanksgiving feast around that same time. Although I was sick, for some reason thinking about it made me laugh. We didn’t do anything too exciting because I was sick with the flu. We managed to bake some cookies for the sisters, and they had baked cookies for us as well…haha. So, in a nut shell that was our Thanksgiving here in Kurgan, very uneventful. Oh well.

Tuesday was an interesting day. We had a reporter that interviewed us and asked us questions about our opinion of Russia and what we thought about their Country. The reporter turned out to be very nice and not at all pushy. Later, we told her about our English club and she said she would like to attend and possibly bring some friends along as well. So something great came out of the interview, at least that is our hope. After the interview, we had a few meetings and then English. Very few showed up to English, which was somewhat disappointing. We never know what to expect, at times we have a great turn out, but other times we end up with very few. After English, we had game night where we played some goofy games.

Friday was not a good day because I was sick with the flu, and unfortunately we stayed in most of the day. I went from vomiting, headache, fever and now it has turned into a sore throat with a headache. No big deal, I will survive…haha.

Although I was still sick, we managed to have a great time Saturday at our branch Thanksgiving Feast. It was a potluck, and I was in charge of the mashed potatoes. Since I wasn’t feeling up to peeling a bunch of potatoes I decided to make instant. straight out of the box …I know what you’re thinking…yuck! So yea, I didn’t let on that I made instant, hoping that they would pass off for the real deal, but sadly to say, they turned out tasting like plastic. Still having that nasty taste like when dad used to make instant potatoes for Sunday dinners when he wanted to be lazy and get out of peeling the real thing. Oh well…I was a little too sick so care too much. Sister K and Z made some great tasting Borsht and salad stuff.

Well, that is about it. The week was kind of a sorry one because of the dang flu, but hopefully next week will be better.

Love you all,

Elder Dewey.

Elder Dewey cooking Thanksgiving dinner for his branch

Kurgan Branch enjoying their Thanksgiving Feast

Yuri (an awesome member here in Kurgan)..holding an American Flag

Great week in Kurgan...

. In front of our apartment

lmers in Tyumen Siberian Zone Conference at the Pa


Elder Dewey and Elder Bassest

November Zone Conference held at the Palmers apartment.

Hey Everyone,

Although this past week was long and somewhat tiring, as it progressed, it became pretty amazing.

Monday (p-day) we hung out for a while then ventured off to a cool mall that reminded me of being back in the states. Everything seemed to be a bit expensive. We also ended up doing some much needed apartment cleaning.
Tuesday ended up being a slow day. We had a church member that just moved here from Africa that attended English, which was very cool. It’s crazy because he only speaks English and knows absolutely no Russian. He seems to be a real nice guy. We are going to help him learn Russian, which will be a rigorous and long process.
Wednesday was a great day. We had district meeting, and was somewhat of a challenge because we spoke all Russian and used NO English, but I felt it went pretty well. The language has darmatically improved. Denis, another member, joined us (making him that fifth person). We discussed activities and different ways we can help the branch grow and become stronger. The sisters here are the coolest. After English, we had an intense meeting with a less active man. I felt bad for him, he just seemed depressed, but by the end of the lesson he agreed that it would be a good idea to start reading the Book of Mormon again. It was amazing because it honestly felt like we were fighting a battle with him, but the spirit won like it always does. He is a really nice guy who just seemed to have lost hope. I know we can help get him feel the spirit again and get on the right track by meeting with us and reading the Book of Mormon. Hopefully he will come to realize that he needs to make reading the scriptures a daily practice.
Thursday we hopped a bus for a four ride to Tyumen to attend zone conference. On the way we watched Beauty and the Beast in Russian, the sisters started crying, which was really funny. Since it was in Russian, I had to think hard and really concentrate instead of just being able to sit back and listen. Once we arrived in Tyumen, we made our way to MACDONALD'S! It was so tasty…way better in Russia! We stayed at the Zone Leaders and I got about three hours of sleep at tops.
Zone conference was great! It was held at the Palmers apartment. The Palmers are an awesome senior couple in Tyumen. It would be awesome to serve in Tyumen because it’s only the Palmers and the ZL’s that serve in that area and so the Palmers baby the ZL’s. So yeah… Sister Palmer made Mexican food that was AMAZING! I love Mexican food! I miss the food in Arizona.
Friday night we hopped another bus for the four-hour ride back to Kurgan. Elder Otis and I sat on the back row with three other HUGE RUSSIANS guys. It was the most uncomfortable 4 hours of my life!…no big deal, I survived.
Saturday we had a few meetings that went well.
SUNDAY the best day of the week!!!! Church was great. We watched General Conference (in Russian), the quality was not the best, but it’s the effort that counts right? THEN after church, we met with a guy named Leonid who has been to church now 4 times ALL ON HIS OWN.. So we asked him to meet and he now has a baptismal date set for the 13th of Dec. It’s going to be AMAZING and a huge help to the branch. It's just so weird because he seems too easy to teach, it makes me think I’m in Mexico…haha! No offense Chase and everyone else serving there! haha.
So that’s my week!

Love Elder Dewey.

Building across from our apartment in Kurgon

Pack of wild dogs outside our apartment

November Siberian Zone Conference

Dear Families,

We have just returned from the Siberia Zone Conference in Tyumen, Russia. We enjoyed trainings by the missionaries, zone leaders, assistants, and President Allen. Elder and Sister Palmer honored us by having the zone conference in their apartment, where we enjoyed Sister Palmer's chicken enchiladas for lunch along with the homey feeling of being in a home. Sorry, I didn't get a picture of them eating--they were pretty crowded hovering over the food in the kitchen at the time. Elder Thompson is still on his visa trip in Kazakhstan--we are anxious for his return. Thank you for the support that you give your missionary. We love and appreciate each one. Our best,President and Sister Allen

Santa arrives early...

This picture is from the McEvoy's blog (senior missionary couple working in the mission office. I hope they don't mind me swiping their picture, but I just loved this one...) Here is Elder McEvoy with a PILE of packages that just arrived to the mission office. I'm certain this will make for some HAPPY Elders!!! I have sent at least four possibly five packages (I've lost count.) that 's taking their sweet time getting there...so hopefully, with fingers crossed they will be in that pile somewhere.:) JOB WELL DONE SANTA!!! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

A work in progress...

This is a cool sign that says "Glory to the Heroes of the People" and a cool babooshka (older woman).

This is a view of the city we live in. I'ts a lot bigger than it looks in this picture. We live on the outskirts.
This is a road of mud my companion and I had to walk along. Kurgan is a very mudding city, but not all roads are like this.

Hey Everyone,

Things are going great here in Kurgan. Elder O and I are now on our second week and things are well.

The following is a run down of this past week.

Last Monday for Pday...video & pizza...can't get much better than that! haha! We found the movie Wallie on video, which hasn’t come out yet in the states. We decided to get a little creative with our pizza skills and experimented with palmeni topping…not the best idea. Palmeni is like pasta with some type of meat inside. I’m not so sure it would've won any prize, but it actually wasn't too bad...hungry missionaries will eat just about anything...soup with fish eyes and now palmeni pizza!

Tuesday, we did some contacting and then English, which was fun. After English, we had game night. We played some game where you had to name famous Russian People. The Russians ended up owning me because I knew very few famous Russian people. Next time we will try naming famous American people and see who comes out on top.

Wednesday was an interesting day; it turned out to be an eventful, disastrous, and amazing day wrapped up in one. I had my first district meeting with the Sister’s and because it was just my companion, the two sisters, and myself we needed a fifth person to join us in order to have an odd number. The member that normally joins us, Sister Masha, happened to be in Finland at the temple. As District leader, it’s my job to find that fifth person. After being turned down due to work schedules or sickness, I decided to ask this one member who just so happens to be extremely talkative. We began the meeting with a spiritual thought given by Sister K. As she was finishing, this member started in at her, tempting her. For some reason he seemed to have his own agenda and proceeded to talk extremely negatively about the branch organization and just wouldn’t let up. I knew by what was happening that the best thing that I could do in this situation was to cut the meeting short and end it. I didn’t feel like the meeting would be productive or that the spirit would be with us when there was such a negative tone. After our short meeting, sister K asked if I would give her a blessing. I was somewhat nervous because I‘ve never given the long part in Russian or in English for that matter. She was my first experience in which I have blessed anyone. She said I could do it in English, but because she is a Russian native I wanted it to be in Russian, in her own language and easy for her to understand and remember. So I just prayed in my heart that I would have the ability to give her the blessing that she needed and that would comfort her, and then I proceeded. Afterwards, Sister K said it turned out good and I didn't make any mistakes with the language. Sister K was in my first “Greenie” area when I was still struggling with the language. After her blessing, she told me about how it is so cool to see the progress I have made since she was in my Greenie Zone. This experience was one of those spiritual, uplifting, and faith building experiences I will always remember and be grateful for. The rest of the day, we had contacting and a meeting with Vacya who is a member that wanted to meet with us, he is always interesting and fun to visit with.

In our weekly planning on Thursday we decided that the hours we spend contacting is not the best use of our time, so we decided to get a little more creative in our approch. We are going to come up with different and creative ways to find people, other than just the norm and see if we can increase our numbers.

Friday wasn’t one of our best days, we were both sick. I’m not sure what happened, but we both were not feeling too well. We had a meeting with Stac, an investigator, which turned out great. Stac is a Russian Orthodox, who is really searching for the truth. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and is intrigued by how much it talks about Christ. He also really likes our new church building.

On Saturday, we ended up wandering around in the mud, in the middle of nowhere, again trying to find a former investigator, it was actually a lot of fun. We did some additional contacting and had a few meetings with members and less actives.


Sacrament meeting was the best. Sister K gave an amazing last minute talk about member missionary work and did a great job! We had Leonid, an investigator there with us. After the meeting, Leonid asked how he could become a member of our church. We explained to him that we would need to schedule some additional meetings with him and explain how he can do just that!! Honestly, it was a miracle. I am so excited. He seems like a very sincere and solid guy. After our meetings, we did some contacting and then made the most amazing tacos.

This transfer has been the greatest transfer. Elder O is such a cool guy, easy going and a hard worker.

I hope all of you at home are doing well, living right, and enjoying life. Although it’s cold here in Russia and this AZ kid is freezing his bum off, there is no other place I would rather be than right here serving the Lord.

Have a great week.

Love,
Elder Dewey

"Великая работа Старший Дьюи"

~~Latest Pic's from Russia.~~

(scroll down after this post to find pic's)

He's been spotted! (you can run but you can't hide)

Hello Everyone,

This "Big Ole" email will have to suffice for this week. It will be a short one with pictures attached, in effort to try and keep a few people back home happy. So for you whiners back home, (mom...haha) suggesting that it's been a while since I've sent pics home...THESE PIC'S ARE FOR YOU! Sending the few pictures I have will most likely take up most of my Internet time, given the fact the equipment in the local Internet Cafe here in Kurgan is not the fastest or easiest to work with. So for you whiners this short email will be in exchange for a few pics. Fair enough...
Monday, was somewhat uneventful, the usual grocery shopping and then back to the apartment. We had been going back and forth between the bokzal or train station and were just tired out of our minds.

Wednesday, I received a surprising call form the Zone Leaders and President Allen, they decided to make me the District leader here in Kurgon. I was a little surprised, being that I am a super duper young elder, but it's cool though and I'm so grateful for the opportunity. It's not a big area by all means so everything should go smooth. I call the Zone Leaders and Sisters every night for statistics and all that jazz.
Thursday, we had a pretty good turn out for English, which always makes it fun and interesting.
Friday we had a meeting with a former investigator who said, he wants to meet more often. He has a daughter that is a member and just moved to Ekat. We are really excited that he seems to be on board. He is really cool, but just kind of not wanting to do anything, complacent I guess is a better description of him. We are trying to help him all we can to find a desire and reason to search for the truth. It's interesting to see so many people too content living their lives with out a real sense of purpose or meaning. I don't know how anyone could be content or happy living their lives that way. I wish they could see the other aspect called "Eternal True Happiness" and growth. Its just hard sometimes to see these great people that really need the Gospel in their lives choose to live with out any religion at all.
Saturday we had a branch activity, which was a lot of fun. We made Russian pancakes... very tasty. I was so tired that I could hardly eat. I 'm not sure why I was so tired, but it hit me like a ton of bricks.
Sunday, Elder Otis and I went on an adventure looking for some less actives and former investigators. We walked all around, in the boonies, out of the boonies, we walked for miles...haha, seriously it was a ton of fun though! Elder Otis is a really awesome guy we are going to be a Power House here in Kurgon, just what it needs!

Enjoy the pics. I love you all, but I gotta run!

Love,
Elder Dewey
До тех пор, пока на следующей неделе ... находиться рядом с Господом и помнить его на все, что вам делать.

Привет из России

Me in front of an old church here in Surgut.

Alonia and I (she is a member in Surgut, and also helps us with learning the Russian language)

Yura a cool kid from Surgut. We taught Yura and his mom twice while I was in Surgut. They are amazing members.

Elder Dorman and I with the Nazaravi family in Kurgan.

A train in Surgut


Me, Elder Otis, Elder Dorman, and Ilya and his wife Olga - (the coolest people in kugron )



Trying to get warm by the heater to the side of me.

My Russian tie collection.

Elder Sorensen, Zhenya, Me, Aliona, Olga, and Lucia.Same group but added the other Alonia.

The Surgut Branch

English club in Surgut and our Russian/American tea party. Me, Aliona, Lucia, Elder S, and Aliona...leaving Surgut. I loved Surgut the short time I was able to serve there. Great People in a Great City...

Me and the two Alonia's...they came to see us off at the train station.



Leaving Surgut...I will miss it here.

YOUR MOM SAY'S...THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT PICTURES!

STAY WARM...

A Big Shout Out to the McEvoy's...

Thanks to the McEvoy's Blog we found a PICTURE of Elder Dewey! Thanks McEvoy's for the picture, you've made one missionary mom very happy...yay!

NO MORE EXCUSES...

A note from Elder Dewey's mom...

I'm not sure what it will take for Elder Dewey to send a few pictures home. My frustration increases each week as I anxiously await for at least one picture to be sent via email. I know he is adequately equipped with the proper accessories. My wait continues as his emails are sent picture-less...haha. I envy those missionary mom's that delight in the pictures they receive each week from their devoted missionary son's.

(My hope is that this small plea will guilt Elder Dewey into action. lol :))

ELDER DEWEY...NO MORE EXCUSES!

Great to be back in Kurgan...New Comp, Elder O...

Hello Everyone,

This week was a crazy crazy week, to say the least. Now that the visa trips are out of the way for a while we can get back on track here in Kurgan and get some good missionary work done. It will be great to get back to normal. Since we have been gone for a while we will need to pick up the speed.

I spent Monday on the train... headed back to Yekaterinburg to pick up Elder M (the elder from St. Pete's). I arrived at the Mission Office in Yekaterinburg Tuesday morning. I had a great time visiting with some of the missionaries coming in and out for transfers, it was cool to see them again and catch up. I believe we have some of the best missionaries in our mission here in Yekaterinburg Russia.

Tuesday night Elder M and I headed back for Kurgon. We had a few obstacles to overcome... - The cell phone and the keys to our apartment just happen to be in Sweden with Elder D! So, the office Elders gave us some money, smiled and said, " good luck". We arrived in Kurgan at 1am. We found a nearby hotel, which was a real ghetto, but at 1:00 in the morning one can't be too picky, you just want a place to hang your head. The next day we hired a guy to pick our lock to the door. Once we got inside the door ...guess what we found... another set of keys ! So everything was all good.

The next morning Elder M asked me, "do you run in the mornings?" and I replied, "it's pretty dang cold outside right now...so, no". And Elder M said, "well, now you do, let's go". So we ran in the freezing cold. After our "nice, brisk, refreshing, FREEZE your BUM off run," we went contacting. Elder M didn't want to work with our current investigators because they were mostly all women. He called the Sister Missionaries to schedule meetings with them, which was a disappointment, because Elder D and I have seen some true progression. It's not easy to hand them off for someone else to teach, especially since we have established their friendship and gained their trust.
Church on Sunday was AMAZING!!! We had 30 people show up!!! Wow!!! The Last Sunday, before I left for Tyuman we only had 15, so it doubled in size! Kurgon is on FIRE! (And...no, it wasn't because I was gone...at least I don't believe it was...haha!)It's wonderful that these great members here in Kurgan have a nice church building to meet in.

Elder O, my new companion arrived this morning around 1:00. He is way cool and we are going to be a POWER HOUSE here in Kurgon!!

Oh, Halloween came and went...Haha I forgot all about it! I was the only American in Kurgon and I didn't even remember. I was bummed, because I wanted to put on an activity for the youth here, oh well ... there is always next year.

Well, that's it for this week. I love you all! Have a good week.

Elder Dewey.

P.S. The language is coming along great. I love it!

Goodbye Surgut...back to Kurgan...

Hello Everyone,

I will have to make this quick, because I just arrived at the Mission Office in Yekaterinburg and will need to leave soon for Kurgan. It was a twenty-four hour train ride from Surgut, so I am feeling like a straight bum.

If you recall, in my last weeks email, I mentioned that my new companion will be Elder Otis, however, he along with others or stuck in Sweden. There are a few problems with renewing visas. The visa issues seem to be a real problem for the church, hopefully things will be straightened out. One nice thing comes out of it, is that the missionaries are able to get in a lot of sessions at the Temple, which is awesome.

I will be going back to Kurgan with Elder Mizin from Saint Petersburg! And guess what… he doesn’t speak any English… how amazing is that! I am so excited, its going to be awesome! I will be able to speak my favorite language 24/7. I am excited to learn all I can from him while we are companions.

Here is a quick run down of last week…it was a great and productive week;

Monday, we did our usual…emailed, groceries and then went sight seeing for a while to Old Surgut, which was a bunch of old buildings.

Tuesday, we went contacting and then on to English Club., which went really great. We had a discussion on American and Russian Holidays. I felt that they really enjoyed it. It was funny, because Dima said that we should bring textbooks to help teach them. I laughed, and then further explained that it was against the law, and even if we could, I probably wouldn’t do a very good job. Then after English Dima wanted to stay and talk about the Gospel. I really wanted to spend some good quality time with him that evening, but Elder S and I had a lesson with Angelina right after English. We didn’t want that to discourage him so we spent about fifteen minutes with him and answered some of his questions. I believe he has a lot of potential and I hope he will continue his interest and meet with the new Elders that will be transferring here to Surgut next week. Dima is a great person and would make a great member.

We had our lesson with Angelina, and it went amazing too! Holy cow…she had a question about how in the Bible it say’s "that Adam became as Us", she thought that this meant that there was more than one God. We explained to her the about the pre Earth life and how we all lived with God before and existed as spirits and that Jesus Christ was with God at that time before he came to Earth. This discussion ended up opening some huge windows for her! It was amazing.

Wednesday, we went contacting most of the day and then went to institute where Alonia taught a great lesson. Afterwards we told her that we were both leaving the coming Monday. She was really sad to see us go and took it pretty hard.

Thursday, was a crazy day! We had planning, cleaned the apartment, and then went out to an area forty-five minutes away to deliver some homemade brownies and have one lesson. Then we stopped by a members and they invited us in and said we set up a meeting with them at 7:30, and then we said, “no we don’t believe we did because we have a meeting at 8 and we cant meet then. Somehow, they got us to sit down and have a lesson. Need less to say, we were thirty minutes late for our next appointment. It all worked out, and both meetings turned out to be pretty dang GREAT! It was a busy, but a fantastic day!

Friday, we had mutual with the youth. We played some crazy animal noise game, ate watermelon, and took some great pictures.

Saturday, we finished cleaning the apartment, and had another amazing English Club. They brought a cake for us and we had a Tea Party! (yeah…I am now going to Tea Parties…haha) We took some great pictures! It was a ton of fun.

Sunday, at church was pretty sad, because members were saying their good-byes, they were emotional, and there were a lot of tears shed. I kind of felt as if I was at a funeral.

AND…Monday, the day we said our final good-bye as we climbed abroad the train. Alonia, Lucia, and another Alonia came to see us off. It was really hard. Alonia was really sad. I am really going to miss Surgut a lot!!! I hope I will have the opportunity to serve in Surgut again. I loved it! It was the strangest thing, because for some reason the Russian Language just all of sudden clicked when I arrived there. I hope the language will stick with me. So, it’s hard to leave another city. I HATE LEAVIG! Honestly, I get so attached to people that it makes it hard to say good-bye. I am so glad I am here in Russia because I have the most amazing opportunity to work with these great Russian people. I love them!

Well, I am off to kurgan in a few. I love you all!
Elder Dewey.

The Lord and the Love for the people is all that is needed...

Hello Everyone,
Who knew you can do gymnastics with your tongue! As Alonia, a young member girl here in Surgut tries relentlessly to helps us conquer the Russian language, I can only imagine what is going through her mind as she watches us perform these humorous exercises with our tongues. I couldn’t help but feel so awkward and kept cracking up. She must think we are the goofiest Elders. The lesson was on improving our accents. She had us stick out our tongues as far as we could to see how far we could stretch them. It was the strangest thing. Then we curled our tongues in different ways. Alonia, said that I have no excuse for not having a great Russian accent because I have a real curly tongue…okay what ever you say…hahaha! I thought she was messin around with us, but apparently, I was mistaken… when she gave me a very serious look, letting me know… I best get with the program…haha.

Last Monday we went sight seeing. Later in the evening, we made brownies for some less actives. It snowed here and was so cold, but I love it. I love to walk around outside when it snows, it's sort of peaceful. I'm staying warm with my new Russian coat…YES…I finally bought one the other day.

English Club this week was surprisingly amazing. We had a new guy named Dima that came out who was very inquisitive about our church, and asked a lot of questions, which obviously led me to ask him that all important question…“Would you like to set up a date and time to meet with us to learn more?” AND…so there you have it…he said, “ sure!!!” He is an amazing guy and appears to be all of that of a” solid piece of Gold”…only time will tell. In class we discussed a love of mine…American Music, which for me… is always fun! It was a fun class for all who attended!

After English, we met with Angelina, a lady from our English Club. We showed the film of the restoration of the Gospel, I believe she really enjoyed it.

Wednesday we had institute and then met with some less actives.

Thursday we met with Sister Kiz who has a nine-year-old son. She is the nicest and coolest lady. We taught her a short lesson on hope. What surprised me about this meeting is that Sister Kiz taught me more about this subject than she learned from us. I left feeling more inspired and uplifted. She shared with us the reason why she is so active in the church. She said she stays solid and strong in the church because she wants the best for her family and the Church is centered and grounded around families. Sister Kiz went on to explain, the Gospel teaches great principles that strengthens the family unit and teaches that families are eternal. She said that the Gospel has given her and her family a better and happier life. When she was sharing her thoughts with us, I could feel the spirit so strong and felt the truthfulness of what she shared. It’s difficult at times to explain the feelings that occur when you feel the spirit that strong. The thought that I kept having was how true it is, that through the gospel our families can have true and eternal happiness, even through the trials and worldly struggles that life brings our way. I truly admire Sister Kiz for her strength and courage.

Friday we had mutual, but disappointed that few youth attended. We made the best of it and played a few Russian card games with the few who were there.

Saturday, we had English Club again. A Russian lawyer attended and wanted to show pictures from England and explain each one, and took up most of all our time, so it didn’t turn out exactly as we had hoped…oh well. In the end, it all turned out okay... Later that evening we had another awesome meeting with Angelina. We taught her a lesson on Jesus Christ and the Atonement. It was an amazing lesson and she really opened up with us.

Sunday, the Branch President’s wife had a birthday party dinner after church, which made for a wonderful evening.

I will be here in Surgut until the 27th. I heard some of the missionaries are experiencing a few difficulties renewing their visas and are currently stuck in Sweden. There have been a few rumors going on, but I don’t want to dwell on it until we know for certain what the facts are. We all need to have faith that things will work out the way the Lord see fits, what ever happens. Often times we don’t understand or know why things turn out the way they do, but we just need to continue in have faith and work hard.

We received transfers today, and I will stay in Kurgan and Elder Otis will be my new companion. I am anxious to get back to Kurgon because no one is there manning the fort. In fact, I was up most of the night worried that no one is there. I will travel back to Yekaterinburg (24-hour train ride from Surgut) on Monday to pick up Elder Otis and then head back to Kurgon and go straight to work.

I’m grateful and humbled with the experiences that I’ve had so far here in Russia. I know I will most likely never have this experience again, so I am trying to soak it all in. Time is going fast, and I wish it would slow down, because there is so much I want to accomplish! I love serving the Lord and pray that I will be blessed with the abilities to continue to serve these wonderful Russian people. I love them and their culture. It’s interesting to me when I hear negative comments about the people, because if you truly try to understand where they have come from and what most of them have had to go through and the little they have, you cannot help but feel compassion and love for them.

Well, I better get going. I love you all. Keep the Russian people in your prayers.

Love,
Elder Dewey

The land of OZ...

Приветствие от Surgutters ... холодным местом в мире,
(Greetings from SURGUTTERS… the COLDEST place in the WORLD,)

Wow! What a couple of weeks! It has been a whirlwind I tell ya! I feel like I am literally living in the land of OZ…traveling by BUS, PLANE and TRAIN to parts of the world I never dreamt of EVER going! I have learned how to sleep sitting, standing, and in crowded, noisy, ghetto, and stinky places! Haha! I have learned how to deal with crazy drunk old men and screaming old women! In just the past few weeks, I traveled to Yekaterinburg, Spain, then back to Kurgan. I had only been back in Kurgan a few days, when I then had to hop a bus to Tyumen (5-6 hour bus ride from Kurgan) to work with the ZL’s, Elder R and Elder B for a few days, then hopped a train to Surgut ( 16 hour ride) to be companions with Elder S while both of our companions, Elder R and Elder D are in Sweden for their visa trip.
We had Zone Conference here in Kurgan before I left for Tyumen. We met in our new Church building. It was great! The members are so excited to have a meeting place of their own. (Notice how small the meeting room is.) Elder R and I picked up President and Sister Allen from the hotel. When we arrived to the hotel, they told us that they didn’t have hot water. A few minutes later the woman from the hotel informed me the hot water would be back on in thirty minutes (a little too late!) and I said, “Okay thanks, that’s good”. I let President know what was said and he started giving me a hard time for THANKING the hotel woman. I think he was joking…( he kind of has that sense of humor…not always sure if he is joking or being serious...I'm hoping for joking:))
I was in Tyumen Sunday and Monday. Tyumen is a nice city compared to Kurgan. The buildings seem to be newer and streets cleaner. Apparently, it has many oil companies. Sunday was great. We had church, a few meetings and then we were fortunate enough to be able to watch General conference LIVE, 10:00 PM our time. I LOVED IT…LIKE NEVER BEFORE! I especially enjoyed President Monson’s talk about enjoying EVERY MOMENT. We went to the Palmer’s, (they are the senior couple serving in Tyumen.) I love them, they are the nicest couple. We stayed the night at the Palmer's that evening.
We spent Monday looking for an Internet cafe and finally had to give up because we were running out of time. We helped a guy move a piano down three flight s of stairs…It was soooo heavy, but glad we could help. After working up an appetite, we went and ate at Rustiks, which is the KFC of Russia but American style. We went back to the Palmer's for a while before I caught the train for SURGUTTERS, also known Surgut, which is the furthest north city in Russia from what I hear. The sixteen- hour train ride was fun. For safety purposes, missionaries are suppose to purchase a whole cabinet so not to have strangers sleeping in the same area. So, I was traveling alone and had four spaces under my name and some woman was trying so hard to convince me to sell the extra spaces to her. I told her "NO-CAN-DO" haha...I paid for all the spaces and I was not interested in selling them to her. She wasn’t too happy with me. I was so tired, so I locked my door and tried to sleep, but soon awakened by a LOUD BANG at my door! I got up, opened my door... only to find a CRAZY DRUNK MAN…dancing and singing! I ignored him, shut my door and tried to fall back to sleep. I loved the train ride and having some time to myself. I spent time thinking about life, and how great it is! The Russian countryside is beautiful this time of year. It's fun experiencing it by train.
When I finally arrived to SURGUTTERS, Elder S and Elder R were there to greet me. SURGUTTERS is amazing! It’s all forest with beautiful buildings and very clean streets. It really is a beautiful city. There is only one set of missionaries in the area. Once I arrived, we went straight to work. We had a few meetings and English club that evening. We met with a member girl who helped us with our Russian. It was so cool, she actually complemented me on my Russian…YEAH! It helped me so much! Honestly, this past week has been truly AMAZING...I have progressed so incredibly fast! It is all REALLY CLICKING! I know I have so much more to learn, but it's coming so much easier! I know the Lord is blessing me greatly with this new ability for the language! I’ll share with you the experience that suddenly HIT ME IN THE FACE! Elder S and I went out vlitzing, which is where Elder S plays his violin in the park and I Teach and Testify. We did this a few times before Elder R left for his visa trip. I was a little nervous to do this by myself, but was amazingly surprised when I found myself carrying on great long conversations ( speaking clearly and understanding others.) Since this experience in the park, my language is no longer a real barrier. I know all this is the Lord working miracles right before my eyes! I’m feeling His blessings working through me. What A GREAT EXPERIENCE!
On Friday, we had a fun activity with the youth. We played some card games and ate Watermelon. The Watermelon was so good… I picked it out. I didn’t know how to pick a good ripe one, but I got lucky because it was soooo good!
On Saturday, we had a meeting with some investigators and they fed us some real strange soup. They got mad at me because I wasn’t wearing a big coat or hat, but back to the soup... They fed us FISH SOUP, with...REAL FISH EYES in it…UGH…NASTY. I ate it anyway, because it is custom you eat everything on your plate.
Sunday, was a great day. We went to church and then had an amazing meeting with Aleiona, the member girl who helped us with our Russian... We talked about how the Gospel blesses our families. Although this topic was hard for Aleiona, it was such a powerful meeting the Spirit was so strong. I just bore an honest and sincere testimony and I feel that is what helped her the most.

Well, that’s it for now. Until next week...
I love you all…remember to ENJOY EVERY MOMENT!

Elder Dewey