July 5, 2010

Hello Family!

Thank you for the happy Fourth of July. It truly is a great day, and I have become more grateful for our freedoms since I have been in Russia. It sounds like great things are going on at home, and the wedding plans are really coming into place so that all will turn out dandy. It is also great that you are all recognizing those blessings the Lord has given you. It is important to keep the Ammon attitude and be prideful in the Lord. He truly does pour on the blessings. Some real great things are happening here. We had our zone conference in Tyumen. It was excellent, and it address probably every concern and trouble that was on my and my companion's mind. It is really great that we can trust our church leaders, and that they receive revelation from God specifically for us. It really was a good time there. The bus ride back was interesting though. We only had one, two minute break for the 3 hour ride, and the bus driver felt like he was driving slow. My companion fell asleep, but he told me when he woke up, he questioned whether we were moving at all. It was pretty funny when he told me about that.

It did rain today. Forecast was accurate. It often rains here in the mornings or in the nights. It rained this morning, and now it is humid and partly sunny outside. I have been hearing that it starts to cool down starting in August, so I will be sure to tell you when it starts getting cold.

We had an amazing experience on the bus. A young man comes up to us wondering about English club. He said he didn't think he spoke english that well, until he started speaking in near-perfect English. He is 16 years old. On top of English club, he said he wanted to learn about the Gospel. We wrote his number down, and thought the experience was great. Yesterday, we again met with him. Come to find out, he must be a near genius because he knows Russian, English, French, Spanish, and German. He plays multiple instruments, and he always excels in school. To earn a little extra money, he gets paid for writing articles on various topics. He said he knows there is a god, but he was fed up with the Orthodox religion. He wants something new, and he was particularly interested in an "American religion" He was struck to find out that we pray from our hearts, and he was a humble, personable boy. We meet with him again tomorrow, so we are really excited. As we were walking to meet him, another person asked us who we were, and we set up a meeting with her as well.

чтобы показать вам что-то по-русский, я решил писать. That says, "In order to show you something in Russian, I decided to write." I understand a fair bit now, but it is still difficult to speak well. I want to start working on that, so that I can better communicate to people. I do learn a lot though, and I am really excited to be here. It was fairly difficult to find those keys on the keyboard to type it though.

My companion is really great. He works hard, he is funny, and he is obedient. We are really working hard here in Kurgan, and he told me he would like to serve with me again.

Something I learned this week- We are reading in the Book of Mormon together as a mission, and we are almost done. Yesterday I read something in Ether though. It talked about faith, and said that anything is possible with faith. Even if our goals don't seem like they can happen, or we begin to become doubtful, turn that around. We don't know the Lord's plan, and he works in mysterious ways. Work hard, in faith in everything that you do, and the Lord will bless you and make up the rest. Even if things happen that we didn't have in mind, he lifts us up and blesses us with those things that will most definitely be better for us. I love you all. Bye. -Elder Larson