Week 20: I'm getting transferred

Hello All,

We just got transfer calls and I'm going to Astrakhan, which will take three days to arrive there. It's basically the middle east and it is also way cold there. This is an area where it's basically only Africans in the branch. I hear there are about 20 Africans and 3 Russians. It's going to be so fun. I'm going to be serving with Elder Williams.   Yesterday we had 3 baptisms that the sister missionaries have been working with.  A mother and her 8 year old daughter and a young man named Aren.   The language is still coming along. When people talk to me I understand a lot of what they are saying but I sometimes don't understand if they are asking me a question and what the question is.  So I just say да (yes). And then they say something like, oh I'll just go ask Elder Altuhov. haha It's funny sometimes.

I hope you have a great week!  Love you all.

I'm going to Astrakhan man. Wish me luck!!

Elder Franckowiak

Week 19: Zone Conference

Good Morning,

This week was the week of Zone Conference. We had the Sochi Elders come up 3 days early and stay with us because a train wasn't available until after Zone Conference. The second day they were here the Crimea Elders came and we decided to do some splits. I went with the greenie Elder down there and a Russian Elder. It was cool because we basically did service all day, like digging and raking and sweeping the grass. It was pretty cool and it was all worth it. I destroyed my foot on one of the shovels but its okay. My foot will only hurt for a couple of weeks. 

This week we didn't have a lot of lessons with investigators but this upcoming week we should be doing a lot more of that. 

"Wickedness never was happiness"

Elder M Franckowiak

 

Week 18: он сказал до свидания

дорогие братья и сёстры,

We had a good week and it was kind of all over the place. I went on another split with a missionary who has been out 6 weeks less than me. But it was in our area so it was more intense. We had two lessons set up and I didn't even know how to get there. But the lesson went well and we got there only 15 minutes late. The second guy we went to was also good except we were only an hour late to his house. We went to this small shop that sells goods and when I was buying something she asked for my passport. I showed it to her and she saw that I was American. We talked for like 2 minutes and in the end she told me that my Russian sucks. hahah.

The guy that was suppose to get baptized last week didn't. He texted us and said that he doesn't think that this church is for him. He brought his girlfriend when he was regularly coming and they broke up. So his girlfriend is coming but he stopped. It's all about planting seeds. It's sad to see him go though.

I also gave a blessing in Russian yesterday. It was so bad. haha.

Love this gospel and its blessings!

Elder M Franckowiak

Week 17: Two Months in Russia!

Hey Everyone,

This week was another good one. We got 2 more investigators this week. We taught them the restoration and they both spoke good enough English so we taught them mostly in English. It went really well and they both seemed really interested in the Book of Mormon. We committed them to reading the Book of Mormon and they said they would. Our African investigator, Frank, was baptized on Saturday. We told him the service was going to be at 6 o'clock on Saturday. At around 9 am we get a phone call from him saying that he was there at the church at 6 am and waited outside in the cold for 45 minutes but no one came. We told him that it was at 6 pm and he just laughed. I had the opportunity to confirm him a member of the church on Sunday. I was way nervous but I guess it went pretty well. The senior couple Elder got to baptize him because he would sit in on most of our lessons and that is who he wanted to baptize him. 

One of our investigators has a baptism date for Nov 11th. He is the one that just showed up at church and has come almost every time since.

I also can't believe that my brother is 21 years old today. It blows my mind. 

Love the church and the blessings it brings!

Elder M Franckowiak