Derek Loves Being a Missionary

Ali, with his diagram about free agency he drew for us

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMITCHKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Mary's Birthday was June 6)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ARE GROWING UP SO FAST!!!!!! i wish i could be there to tell your birth story. or at least eat stuffed waffles. mmmmmmmmm

and also happy d-day! not quite as fun.

so at my place things are good. a good week, still doing awesome, doing some darn tootin good work. if i do say so. we decided to keep focusing on contacting, and try to turn contacts into investigators. we saw some good success. got a couple new investigators, and a few more that we think we should be able to meet with, so things are moving forward quickly. i guess it has taken three weeks, but that is actually very quickly here.

me and haizen are getting along awesome- we are very similar. same tastes in movies, music, books. we just talk about music the whole day pretty much. its nice to have a companion that is a person i would choose to be around, if i had a choice. I've actually had three of those, counting now. so not too bad.

so as for investigators, if you count the kids we are trying to get baptized, which we don't, we had a good family night with them. brought some brownies, which always helps, and had a good time, taught a quick lesson about gratitude, and we drew pictures about things we are grateful about. it was good, but the father wasn't there, of course. in principle, it should be the easiest baptism imaginable. an active member family with two kids who aren't baptized. ugh its frustrating. but eventually, i guess, it will work out.

we met this cool young girl for the first time in Wednesday, we found her contacting last week, and she actually is interested. we met in a park, unfortunately. those are always bad lessons, but we taught a good first. she said she had read a bit in the book of Mormon, and asked questions. we figured out by the end that she had mistaken us for j-dubs, and that seemed to relieve a lot of stress. she was nice and funny, and seems fairly interested. though she said her family is very against, and she has to read in secret and meet us in secret. so... we'll see. we have another lesson on Tuesday, this time at the church.

also on Wednesday we met with this dude andrei for the second time- he was legit. the first thing he says: last time after i walked out of the church, i had this crazy feeling. i felt peace, and joy, and love, and i don't know why. i have felt it before, but very rarely. man, that was great to hear. we explained to him the holy ghost, and then jumped into the third lesson, the gospel of Christ. he agreed with everything. after we finished, he said, i don't know what more i could possibly say to add. it is perfect. i had to try, so i tried to commit him to baptism, and he rejected it. but he said if he ever feels it is necessary, then of course he would. so as we meet more, hopefully he understands the necessity of it. he was very nice, very smart, and very accepting. great investigator. but of course, there is no such thing as a golden investigator.

our only other investigator lesson came randomly. we were at this primary activity at the church, where they were celebrating some sort of holiday for children. if i remember, it is called 'protection of children day'. we were there to support our 'investigator' kids, and right before it started this dude walks in, and says he wants to be baptized. we were like, lets talk. we talk to him and find out that he knows nothing about the church at all, but wants to start a new life, get forgiven of his old sins, so he wants to be baptized. we explained that to be baptized, he just has to be willing to live according to the standards of the church. he said he was interested, and so we talked a little bit about the restoration, got his number, and then he left. so, we will see if he is still interested after he learns that we don't just baptize people willy nilly. but hopefully, of course.

as for other highlights of the week, at a meeting with anatoli, his friend came over, and he plays the guitar awesome. so he played while anatoli sang old Russian classic songs. don't worry, i recorded it. I'll show you later. hmmm. i got a hair cut, that’s cool, right? yeah, other than that, just a bunch more contacting, which is amazingly effective in this area. and it is extremely hot, i am just constantly sweating. its awesome though, i enjoy the heat. and hopefully i sweat away a few of these extraneous pounds.

things are just wonderful. one request: i am pretty sure the pants i have aren't going to make it another year. so, maybe in the next package, that would be a wonderful gift? probably just two more pairs should be fine. well, hopefully. i think the ones i have should last the summer.

so, I'm out. thanks for everything you all do! shout out to the Pew's, who have been quite diligent in writing letters! love you guys! fight the fight, something something, and keep the faith! that’s our mission motto. have a great week!

love, elder Brimley