Saratov - Week 4 - "Persecution in Saratov"

February 2, 2015

All is well....... And holy cow were the last two days absolute CHAOS.

 

About ten years ago the city of Saratov had enough members that it could have had 2 stakes, however the economy crashed right around that area and the majority of the members in Saratov moved to Moscow. It's crazy how hard the adversary works when he knows that something good is about to happen (for example in the Ukraine Donesk mission they were almost ready to build a stake there as well, and now there are no missionaries in Ukraine it is complete chaos). Well, Saratov has strengthened its numbers once more and the area president for the east side of europe, President Packer, has decided to come down to Saratov to see if we are in fact ready to build a stake. President Schwab informed us that this will be the most important conference in this mission for 10 years. So, for the past 2 and a half weeks all missionaries in the Saratov zone have been trying to get in contact with ALL members, ALL less actives, and ALL investigators and potentials to invite them to this special conference to show President Packer that we really are ready for a stake. Many different branches in different cities would be coming down to Saratov by bus just to come to the conference. We have printed out special invitations to give out and those that we haven't been able to get in contact with we have gone to their homes and put the fliers in their mailboxes. We have been praying so hard and looking forward to this day like Christmas. But oh how the devil doesn't like that....

 

It all started in zone conference this weekend when President Schwab informed us that others have heard about this conference and that there will actually be protestors. That was a little bit shocking to me just because the church is still so new in Russia, I didn't know that there could be enough people that know about the church in Russia to even start a protest.

 

On Saturday night, less than 24 hours before the conference, we were at the branch building for a baptism when we heard a rumor from one of the members that the buildilng that we have been planning to meet in for the conference has been shut down. That seemed very unlikely, so we asked the zone leaders if that was true, they told us no and that we would definitely still be having the conference in that building. However, after the baptism, we found the zone leaders pacing up and down the hallway both on their phones, and turns out that there is a squad of policemen in front of the conference buildling and that no body is going in there. Yes, the building WAS shut down. That means that all the invitations that we have given out, all the people that we have talked to in the past two weeks would all be going to the wrong address, instead of finding a Mormon conference they would find a mob and a squad of police but no conference. A "call down" was immediately sent out to all missionaries to cancel all plans for the evening and to call all members, less actvies, and investigators and inform them that the meeting was being relocated to our branch buildling. That put me in even more shock considering that our branch buildilng can only hold about 200 people MAYBE, and we were expecting over 300. So they decided that the Saratov district will instead meet in 3 separate buildings and we will just broadcast it from our branch buildling. We spent the entire night making calls and making sure that everybody knew of the changes. Satan knew about this conference and he really doesn't want it to happen! It's almost funny how much evidence he gives that he is real and how vitally important this conference is.

 

The next meeting 250 people met in our branch building, it was packed at the way to the back of the hall. But to top it all off, here's what happens next. Everyone is sitting down and we are getting ready to start the conference... and the power goes out. No lights, no microphone, and no interenet and power source to broadcast the conference. The government had completely shut the power off in our branch buildling. But does that stop us? No. We will raise our voice if we have no microphone, we will open the blinds if we have no light, and if we want to do a video broadcast, we will use skype to get this message to all Saratov branches. And that is just what we did. This work WILL go forth. Saratov WILL become a stake. And no one, especially the devil, can stop this work. The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.

 

There was a turnout of over 420 people total. And what was the conference about? It was about Christ. Christ's chosen servants will always testify about him. I know that truly that meeting WAS the most important meeting that this mission will see for many years. I know that the day is coming when Saratov will become a stake, and I know that that day is soon. When there are 3 stakes in a country the likeliness for a temple to be built goes up drastically. There is a stake in Moscow, a stake in St. Petersburg, and the last stake? Saratov.

 

I know without a doubt that this is God's work, and I know for a fact that as long as Christ sits at the head of this church, nothing his teachings from going forth. What an exciting time to be serving in Saratov.

 

Expect miracles in Russia :)

 

Sister Brooklyn Wilson

 

"Saratov - Week 2"

January 19, 2015

All is well!

Saratov is wonderful. Oh my goodness and the members... there is one member named S. Man, I wish you could all meet him. He makes me laugh so hard, I literally don't think there is anything better in the world that laughter. It makes everything so much better. We went over to their house the other night and they kept us waaay too long just telling us amazing stories about how they joined the church, we finally just had to pretty much literally walk out the door as he was in the middle of one of his tangents. 

My companion is Sister Busman and she is a powerhorse. She never sits down to rest, I have to remind her that she should probably actually get some food into her stomach for lunch :) She's always making calls or doing something, and it is her last cycle, so I am having to sprint to keep up with her. She loves to sing Russian hymns as we walk down the streets together (I have no idea how she memorized any of them) and her and I run up and down 10 flights of stairs for exercise in the mornings, we've been so sore lately! But it feels sooo good to finally exercise. 

This area is super busy with less active and new convert work. We are constantly running from one place to another, I am really just wondering how we are going to have any time to find some investigators to teach. 

We have really trying to get a hold of two new converts who we just baptized last year and have pretty much ever since then disappeared. One is A, the other is N. A is about 20 years old, he has freckles and has a quiet confidence about him. N is about 60 I would say and has all gold teeth, all but one real tooth on the top row. But her smile really isn't scary looking, I love her smile :) I was privileged to be at A's baptism because we happened to be on splits with the sister training leaders that weekend. I saw so much light in this young man's eyes. I could really see so much potential in him. But Satan has been working hard on him, he got a job and is now studying and it's been a difficult transition for him. This week while struggling to get lessons with members, it seems that all has fallen through. So interesting how hard you try, God makes it so that no body will answer their phones to set up lessons because he really wants you to meet someone on the street. One night when all plans fell through we decided to go to a less active and then a member, well the less active lesson fell through, so we went over to the member's house a little earlier since we had nothing to do before that. Just as we were about to walk into her apartment I noticed a boy walking on the street, his back was toward us and I couldn't see his face, and suddenly my mouth blurted out, "A!!!" The boy turned, and sure enough it was A. He ran over to us and we were able to remind him of who he is, and what is most important and that without God he cannot reach his potential. He was so happy to see us, and I know that the spirit really touched him. I know that I did not just "happen" to be at A's baptism, I wouldn't have been able to recognize him and call out to him if I hadn't have been there. 

Then N, who was also just barely baptized... her family found out that she joined the church and turned on her. She decided to move, considering all the family problems and some problems with her apartment... and we lost all contact with her. Well the other night as we were running somewhere again, late again actually... we were giving out church invitations while still trying to hurry up... one of the invitations fell into the hands of who? N. God had placed her right on our path. It turns out that she returned to the city just to grab a few things that she had forgotten, and she agreed to meet with us at least one last time this week considering that Sister Busman is leaving Russia for good in just a few weeks. We had been praying so fervently for both of these new members and Heavenly Father is taking care of them, he put not just one, but both of them on our pathes this week. If that's not a miracle, then I don't know what is.

Also... the other night on the bus I was sitting by a girl about my age, and I asked her if she has ever wondered if God really exists. She said she didn't know if he did or didn't. And I said, "you can find out! Do you want to find out?" I explained that she can know that he is there through prayer... she just looked at me a little shocked, and then looked down at the book sitting on my lap. She asked what the book was, and I put the Book of Mormon in her hands. She was just thumbing through the pages and really admiring it. Then her mother looked over and grabbed the book and put it back in my hands. I insisted that it was a gift for her daughter but the mom insisted that I take it back. Both me and the girl looked at each other with sad eyes and she turned to her mom and said, "maybe I could just read a little bit of it...?" Her mom responded with a strict no. So sad :( But I know that this girl will never forget the Book of Mormon, next time she sees it she will be ready :) 

I am doing well as an individual, I actually had a rather eye opening experience last night. My mood the entire day had been really sour, and I had been trying to suppress it the best that I could with prayer. As we were hurrying to a meeting with somebody I pulled out my phone and just began to make calls to members to simply thank them for the service that they render. It was wonderful, we thanked them for their care and concern and help and told them that we love them. It was wonderful to hear how shocked they were that we actually weren't calling for help :) It just made me feel so good, being grateful, and you know what? Doing something that small and simple changed my whole mood! Really the whole night I had the spirit with me and I just felt like a butterfly. I will have to say that I definitely benefited from the "service" than they did :)

I feel a little frantic writing this letter, we really don't have much time today so I feel like I'm all over the place. I hope everything makes sense :) 

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Sister Brooklyn Wilson