tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87881909707487602802024-03-04T23:06:46.710-08:00From Russia With LoveHello! I'm Elder Travis Skene. This is a blog created mainly from my letters while I'm on my mission for Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (The Mormon Church). I was called to serve in the Russia Rostov-Na-Donu Mission. This is so you can stay updated with what I'm doing.
I'll likely be gone from November 2011 to November 2013.
My mother and/or sister will manage this blog for me, if you want to contact me and don't know how you can send my mother an email at cathske@gmail.comElder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.comBlogger94125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-74738058506880644772013-07-22T09:00:00.000-07:002013-07-28T21:02:32.711-07:00Splits and Progress with Investigators<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="ajy">
<span class="hb"><br /><span class="g2" dir="ltr" name="me"></span><span class="g2" dir="ltr" name="Paul"></span><span class="g2" dir="ltr" name="Kiley"></span><span class="g2" dir="ltr" name="Jakob"></span></span>Hey!
This week we had splits with the Traktorny Elders, I was with Elder
Vail here in Volzhsky and Elder Lambert went with Elder Goodwin back to
Traktorny. It was a really helpful to shake things up a bit and see
different ways to work than you're normally used to. Elder Vail and I
visited Michael the American, who actually I guess was just out of town
at some camp thing so he didn't answer his phone for a while but we had a
meeting with him and it was interesting, but maybe the best part of it
all is that we got to meet and talk to his girlfriend and she should be
coming to our Spiritual Night activity that we are having this Friday
here in our branch. We also had a lesson with Mihail that Gosha, our
ward mission leader, sat in on and testified with us which was a really
helpful and they are friends outside of lessons so things are moving
forward with him getting used to the branch. He prayed and came to
Church! It went from him being like atheist and telling us that our
Church is nice but we don't really know whats going on to him praying
with us, reading, coming to Church, and agreeing to meet again. He
speaks English really well and could be a huge help here for the branch,
he's a good guy and has a lot of potential. We are gonna try to work on
home teaching here and get that set in motion too, and we've been doing
a lot of work on the branch member list and looking for the people who
we haven't met and getting the people on there who need to be from
either other branches or from the Moscow file, and we've been able to
make some really useful changes and this week should prove to bring more
as well so we'll just have to see what we can find out. Other than that
there isn't a lot of news to report about, there is a transfer here
coming up in three weeks, it will be my last transfer, I really hope
that I can stay here but I guess we'll just see what ends up taking
place for everyone. I love you guys and thanks for everything you do!
Have a great week and be safe! Until <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1882913289" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">next Monday</span></span>,</div>
<br />-Elder Skene</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-19176159855384437332013-07-15T09:00:00.000-07:002013-07-28T21:00:37.130-07:00Audits!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="iw ajw">
<span class="hb"></span><img alt="" class="ajz" data-tooltip="Show details" id=":13q" role="button" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/images/cleardot.gif" /></div>
Hey!
This week there was some changes made in how we do the work here. For
one thing, no activities for missionaries except for monthly events, at
least as far as I understand it, they are trying to shift the
responsibility to the members so we have to have full confidence that
they can make the changes they need to to take control of things.
Obviously it's a little tough because we just had like a big renaissance
in our branches over here where a lot of people were starting to come
back and participate, and we were getting a lot of investigators and
referrals, nearly all of them in fact. This is all being said though,
this is the new direction that President wants us to move in and even
though it's hard we just have to trust that we maybe can't understand
the full long and short term effects of it all and that we will be
blessed from it, we just need to try to work hard to adjust to it and
get another game plan in action. We also had a few audits this week that
I was able to participate and and translate and do MLS stuff. I worked
with Elder Bergerner, the chief Eastern Europe auditor, and it was a
good experience and I learned a lot about Church policy, finances, and a
bunch of other stuff even though it was just for a few days of doing it
all. Not a bunch of updates this week as far as investigators go, we
are still working with all the Russians but the Americans seemed to have
gotten derailed somehow, granted one of them told us that he read about
Mormonism on the Internet and you can imagine how that conversation
went but we just told him that he is entitled to his opinion and that we
are just here to invite people to read the Book of Mormon, pray about
its' message, and come unto Christ by being baptized by someone holding
the true Priesthood authority. On the bright side though we are having
some progress and moving forward and working with people that we never
really thought would be willing to hear our message. I hope you guys all
have an awesome week, thanks for everything you do for me. I love you!<br />
<br />
-Elder Skene</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-92214257722723411902013-07-08T09:00:00.000-07:002013-07-28T20:59:16.047-07:00The Work is Progressing!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey! So this week we had some good progress with our investigators and
the work here. We had our last English conversation group for a couple
of weeks to let the program rotate and that went well, we had family
home evening on Tuesday and had a handful of investigators there and
they brought their friends, some of which we are now working with.
Namely, there is a guy named Michael and his friend Truman, both
Americans who live over here and among other things teach English. We
had the first lesson with Michael and it went well. He agreed to read
and pray about the Book of Mormon, so we'll have to keep meeting with
him. It was kinda strange to teach the first lesson in English to be
honest, but it was cool to experience a little bit of what the
missionaries back home in the US do. We'll be seeing all of them
hopefully this Tuesday along with our other investigators who couldn't
make it last week and Elder and Sister Crane will be there so it will be
good for them to talk them and discuss the Gospel and become friends.
We had Zone Conference this week too, my last one, which was kind of
bizarre. There will be zone training meetings but I guess there not
really the same. Sometimes the mission has gone by pretty fast and at
other times slower, but I'm sure that either way I'll be at the mission
home having my final interview before I know it, which will also be
unreal I'm sure. You're whole mission you never really anticipate that
day coming, as though it does for other Elders and Sisters but you have a
special assignment or something haha. You come into the mission office
on you're first day here after leaving the mission home and see the
pictures of everyone on the board and then you realize that every single
person in the mission on that board will be gone before you are, except
for those you came with, it's just been an interesting process to see
the change happen and almost everyone I knew before is home now but have
been replaced by everyone, but the transition has been over 2 years so
it's all been step by step so not super alarming. I gotta run, thanks
for all you're support and everything you do, have a great time in Lake
Powell! I hope that you have a great week. I love you!<br />
<br />-Elder Skene</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-42232423464690534562013-07-01T09:00:00.000-07:002013-07-28T20:57:33.623-07:00Talent Show!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey everyone, this week we have Zone Conference here in Volgograd, which
should be exciting and I guess it's my last one unless there will be
another before October, which is kinda unreal to be honest. I always
assumed a day like that to be far away in my future. Either way, it
should be helpful and cool to see everyone again. This week we'll be
meeting with some people hopefully who can provide us with some contacts
and who can be really helpful to our branch. This week we did some
service for a member who moved here a little while back and got a
working lock put on her door so she can leave freely. Her daughter works
in the city and I guess makes the money for the family while the Mother
builds the house all day with her own hands. So we've been over to help
a few times, we went with the other Elders and Sisters in our district
and we want to do that again sometime soon, maybe on splits this week.
It was really helpful to her, she wasn't able to ever leave for fear of
someone robbing her house. She lives out in a village north of Volzhsky,
about 20 minutes our so by car so not to far out but if something were
to happen it may be tough for her to get help in time, so she's been
confined to her home for a while. She comes to Church though now and was
at the talent night, speaking of which, it went really well. A lot of
people performed and a lot of inactives showed up and some investigators
too. I got to MC the evening and sing a hymn with two members from our
Branch here. It was all a really good time. After counting things we
realized that our attendance was over 40, maybe even over 45, which is a
huge improvement and jump ahead for the Branch here. It truly is a
blessing to be able to take part in the work like that. So the work here
is going well and things are moving forward, I can't believe that I
have like 12 weeks left, crazy. I'll just need to keep continuing to do
the work and try to focus on what good we can do here. The Work is true,
it's of the Lord. I love all of you, thanks for all your support and
help, have a great week and be safe, until next Monday!<br />
<br />-Elder Skene</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-14076656625580811812013-06-24T09:00:00.000-07:002013-07-28T20:56:24.234-07:00Another Week Flown By!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey! I don't have a bunch of news aside from what I wrote you in my
personal emails to each one of you. The work here is going pretty good.
We have been doing service for the members lately and we are really
gonna start trying to work with them a little more in the work and ask
them to get their friends involved and coming to the activities and
Church. This week we had what I think you could call a miracle. We were
working with the ward mission leader here who's about to turn in his
mission papers here pretty soon, Gosha, on the street. A day or two
earlier we called Elder Williams in the office requesting the some info
on a member who has been lost out of the records for years. We were
contacting some people and visiting members when a lady approached us on
the street asking if we were Mormons. We told her who we were and she
informed us that her family was searching for years for us and their
names were the same people who we were trying to find and requested
records for. We took down her phone number and we're excited to see
where that can go this week. We're still seeing good news here in Church
every week as people are coming back or are willing to meet all the
while making big efforts to make it out here and change their routines.
We have a cool talent night here planned for this Friday, and a lot of
inactives have agreed to come and some investigators, so we're excited
to see how that turns out. I don't know if I'm gonna perform or
anything, maybe I'll play some Candle in the Wind on the piano or
something, I don't know how funny Tim Gunn in Russian would be haha. We
have been meeting with some really cool members and families and really
trying to build friendships and get to know each other. This branch is
awesome, I love the members here and the area is cool too. In short,
things are going good here and we are moving forward with the work. I
gotta run, I love you guys! Have a great week and be safe, until next
Monday,<br />
<br />-Elder Skene</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-73310533077590891422013-06-17T09:00:00.000-07:002013-07-28T20:54:33.532-07:00Happy Fathers Day!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey! First off, Happy Father's Day! I hope you had a great weekend and
from what you told me it sounds like you did. This week here we were
doing a lot to serve the members and build there trust with us and we
have been kept way busy. We had a couple inactives show up this week at
Church that haven't come in a long time, it's truly an awesome blessing
to be able to see the hand of the Lord in the the work that you do, and
how through you he blesses his children and the joy that we can all
experience by being a part of it. I'm sure that the Lord has been so
merciful to allow me to participate in miracles like that, I can't even
begin to pay him back for the life he gave me or the atonement that he
performed. We are working pretty hard here and stuff is moving forward
and we are kept super busy. The time goes pretty fast, I'm sure before I
know it my time will be up and I'll wonder what happened. I really hope
that I can finish my mission here I think, the branch is awesome, I
love them so much, and every branch I've served in has had some of the
coolest members that I've ever met before here in the mission so that's
saying a lot haha. Attached is a photo of Oleg, one of the inactives,
don't post in online though until I get confirmation that the rule was
changed or whatever the current policy is haha things change here out of
the blue sometimes and before you know it the guidelines have all
changed. I gotta run, I hope that you're having a great week and staying
safe. Happy Father's Day, I love you guys! Until next Monday,<br />
<br />-Elder Skene</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-20742046838248893102013-06-10T09:00:00.000-07:002013-07-28T20:48:03.737-07:00Attendance is Growing!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey! This week was pretty good. We had even more people come back to
Church that we've been working with. We did a service project this week
for a member named Natalia who lives in a village outside of the city
and has a mother at home who sometimes needs to be watched out for, so
for her to come to Church is a risk and sacrifice, it takes time and
faith that the Lord will watch over her mother at home. She came and was
happy to be there, and all of us were so excited to see her there. Oleg
also came to Church again, Igor, our investigator, and more inactives.
What a blessing it is to be able to see how the service that you render
and the work the Lord does through you blesses others, and how they
change their lives. I consider it an awesome blessing to be able to
participate in that here in Volzhsky, granted, things can be tough and
opposition exists, but we just need to keep moving forward and watch the
miracles happen and witness the hand of the Lord in the lives of others
and in ours. We are kept pretty busy here and sometimes that can make
the time fly by pretty fast. This week we have a lot planned ahead and
splits with our district so that should be an interesting change of
pace. Zone training meeting was pretty interesting and gave me some
insights. It was cool to be part of the circle to dedicate our zone for
the preaching of the gospel, and feel the spirit there. The work is
moving forward and the branch is growing, and we know that if we keep
working hard and exercise faith the Lord will bless us. I love you guys,
I hope you have a great week and be safe! Until next Monday,<br />
<br />-Elder Skene</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-58372991105118951462013-06-03T09:00:00.000-07:002013-07-28T20:44:56.970-07:00Workin' Hard!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey guys! This week I don't have a bunch of news to report or anything,
if I get a chance to send some photos I will. Speaking of which I've
been able to see some really cool WWII stuff while I've been here and
across the river, which is awesome, it's kinda unreal to think that one
of the biggest battles in world history took place right here in our
backyard, and some sweet stuff has been preserved and scenery is really
cool in some places. I've been taking photos when I can, so I'll have to
show them to you guys in a couple months here. We have been really busy
this week, like there hasn't been one day that I can recall where we've
been able to do everything that we need to and that is coupled with
rushing everywhere even, and the spirit has been strong as we've worked
with inactives and actives alike, contacted, taught lessons in Church,
and just everything else. We about doubled our Church attendance this
week, which is also way awesome. Even though it can be pretty tough, I
consider being here a blessing and an opportunity to do a lot of good,
haha I guess the Lord gave me a good way to finish strong, we are now
from what I've heard, visiting every single person in the branch every
week, that's a lot of meetings and a lot of people and only 2 companionships to divide and conquer, so it sounds like a good time and
we got our work cut out for us. We have had some big progress with the
inactives here, and it's exciting to see what could happen in the
future. We visited Oleg, a professional photographer/cinematographer who
was inactive in our branch and later on in the week did a service
project for him to help clean up some stuff at his work. We shared a few
spiritual thoughts and invited him to come to combined family home
evening with the other branch across the river in our district, he
agreed and he'll be the photographer for the activities, and we're
riding there with him tomorrow night. We thought that would be a good
idea to get him back into the scene by just getting him socializing with
the members and then start to get him back to Church, we didn't want to
do too much all at once. The Lord must have worked a miracle with him,
we are not only going to the activity with him tomorrow night but he
came to Church! He expressed the love the felt from us just looking out
for him and helping him out, and I think it meant a lot to him. This is
all not to mention the work that the Sisters have been doing with other
inactives who came back this week who haven't been coming to Church
really for 4 or 5 years if I remember right. It's really cool to be able
to make friends with the inactives and have them help us with the work
by referrals, coming to lessons/meetings, and everything else. Our
investigator, Igor, told us about how the Lord help him quit smoking and
how he has a testimony about tithing. His stories were really cool to
listen to and we are committed with him now to work with his wife and
get him baptized, he has been an investigator for something like 8 years
apparently but he's really nice and seems to know the doctrine better
than a lot of members do here, not to mention what he's shown us too. So
all in all things here are moving forward and are doing well. I love
and miss you guys, have a great week and be safe! Until next Monday,<br />
<br />-Elder Skene<br />
<span><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span></span></div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-74245141727818231882013-05-27T09:00:00.000-07:002013-07-28T20:40:53.462-07:00First week in Volzhsky (Volgograd)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey! So transfers this week was an interesting experience. I had a
mission conference with Elder Bennett, a member of the quorum of the
Seventy and the East Europe Presidency which was pretty cool and really
helpful, I set a lot of goals and got some good insights, then a visa
trip, my last one, to the Ukraine with some of my best friends here on
the mission. Then the next morning I took a 8.5 hour bus ride to
Volgograd with Elder Sandoval, and then an hour and a half taxi ride
through Volgograd and then across the bridge to Volzhsky. I saw the big
statue and some interesting stuff on the way including of course the
Volga river, all of which were cool to see. I expect to probably finish
my mission here, having only 2 transfers left after this one is done,
especially with the policy of wanting someone to remain in the branch
who knows the members and all like if my comp left and someone new came,
but either way we'll just see what happens in these next 17-18 weeks.
The branch is cool and my comp works hard. We have talked to like
everyone we see and have made a lot of plans for the work we are going
to do here. I have realized a lot of things lately as I study and
continue the work, I was thinking about how often we all play the role
of the prodigal sun in our lives, how often we ask for forgiveness,
especially when sometimes others may be really good at what we struggle
at, and then we can understand how they feel when we see someone else
have a weakness with something we consider to be easy. Christ overcame
it all, suffered it all for us, he and our Heavenly Father truly are the
Father in the parable who accept us if we repent. The branch here is
cool, about 1/3-1/2 of the about 15 active members are youth, and
they're way cool. I consider it a blessing to to be able to meet
everyone and work here. Our landlady is awesome too, she lives right
next to us and is way nice, she makes us food and helps us out with
stuff like water refills or anything else that we need. So we'll just
have to see how things play out here but there is a lot of potential for
success branch growth/reactivation, and I'm excited to be a part of it.
We're working hard and playing by the rules. I miss you guys but I gotta
run, have a great week and be safe. I love you!<br />
<br />-Elder Skene</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-21396015938324732512013-05-20T09:00:00.000-07:002013-07-28T20:35:05.788-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey! So we got transfer calls this week and I will be leaving Selmash. I
have served a total of 5 transfers here, which is a lot for the average
area, but it was hard to say goodbye even though I was ready for a
change. I love so many of the members here and I love the people I was
able to serve around/with and I learned so much from so many different
people, stuff I may have never learned otherwise. I'll miss my
companions and the Williams for sure, but I think it will be interesting
to have a new change. Elder Cook will be staying here and Elder Wilding
will come to replace me, he's a good missionary, I've gotten to know
him a little bit over the mission and I was his temporary companion on
his first day here. He's 4 transfers younger than me if I remember
correctly. Sisters will also now be in Selmash along with the Elders. I
will be going up to Volgograd (Stalingrad) across the river in a place
called Volzhsky, actually I'll be the second oldest Elder in the whole
zone and the oldest within a transfer, crazy right? Although maybe not
my first choice to be totally honest haha I'm excited to go and I'll be
serving with Elder Lambert, I've never met him but I've heard some good
stuff and apparently he's pretty smart and good at the language, he went
to Stanford before his mission, he should be an interesting guy. No
other major news this week than we had a good turn out at Church this
week and things in the branch are improving. We've been kept busy
between the work and getting stuff ready for transfers, we have to
transfer all the area book records to a separate book for the new
Sisters, the rule here is that if it's a single individual the Elders
teach the men and the Sisters teach the woman. There are Sisters in
Volzhsky too, and we'll be in a district of 10 people, including the
Cranes, a senior couple. There awesome and they'll be helping us out in
our two areas with some branch training and things. I guess that I'm on
another branch assignment, as there is a lot that needs to be done in
these two branches that make up our district, and who knows, maybe I'll
finish my mission up there, who knows, but hopefully we can be kept
working on some specific stuff now and then instead of just a lot of
contacting or other standard routines, thankfully the Branch Presidency
assignment in Selmash helped out a lot with that and kept us occupied.
So we'll have to see what is in store for this next transfer and the two
after it before I'm finished and on my way back home, this week I have
my last visa trip and a mission conference with Elder Bennet before I go
up on the 8-12 hour bus trip to Volgograd Center, and then the hour and
a half taxi ride through the city and across the bridge to Volzhsky, so
it should be exciting. Have a great week, thanks for everything! Be
safe! I love you!<br />
<br />-Elder Skene</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-35094962141730481182013-05-13T09:00:00.000-07:002013-07-28T20:32:28.210-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey! This will be short because we just talked yesterday and I updated
you on the week and what's happening over here. Nothing really happened
since we talked, but I wanna wish you guys a Happy Mother's Day again
and I hope that you had fun with the family. It was awesome to get to
talk to you all! I miss you guys so much, I'll just need to keep myself
occupied with the work over here until the very end and I'll see you
before we know it. Have a great week and be safe, until next Monday!<br /><br />
Elder Skene<br />
<span><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span></span></div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-68784480071796785812013-05-09T09:00:00.000-07:002013-07-28T20:25:41.080-07:00Happy Victory Day!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div>
Hey everyone, today was Victory Day here in Russia, today being the
9th of May. We were able to see the big parade this morning and some
other cool stuff, I have some cool photos that I'll have to send to send
to you if I get the chance, I'll try to attach a few in this email. So
this week we had a higher than average turn out at Church and things
went smooth for the most part, there were a few isolated incidents that
took place, but we just gotta keep moving forward and get past the bumps
in the road. Other than that we are just working with mostly the same
investigators that we had in the past few weeks. Due to the Easter
Holiday though, or as we hope, not all of them came to Church this week.
We also had splits with the Severny Elders, and combined we received
5-6 numbers and handed out a few copies of the Book of Mormon, so they
went pretty well, and it was good to mix things up a little bit from the
casual routine. Zone training this week was good, it provoked some
thoughts in me about goal setting, my progress as a missionary, and
other stuff that I've been thinking about, essentially about just how we
all can keep improving as missionaries, and what I need to do
specifically, it's interesting to see how we change over time, and how
far you realize that you need to go every time you evaluate things, haha
even in the things that don't seem like your biggest weaknesses, but
that's life right? Well, I gotta run, you guys have a great week and be
safe! Talk to you on Sunday!</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
-Elder Skene</div>
<span><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span></span></div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-62306023502682731522013-04-29T09:00:00.000-07:002013-08-04T19:00:55.197-07:00Easter here next week!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hey! So this week wasn't super evenful as far as the
majority of the days are concerned, but towards the end of the week we found a
few people in interesting ways that said that they were interested. Then at
Chruch we had over 40 people in attendance, I know it sounds small but that's
more than I've ever seen in Selmash before and more than I've ever seen on my
mission regardless of where I served. Despite the few individuals who don't
seem to be onboard with the new changes in the branch, we had a good Sunday and
got a lot accomplished, if they choose to continue to act the way they have it
will be their choice and their issue to deal with, our job is just to
fellowship them, not fuel the fire, and be forgiving. Sometimes that can be
pretty difficult, but I'm sure with someone as experience as President
Williams, we can all collectively do it as we heed to his council. I was
translating the whole day it seemed, which was pretty cool. It's a rush to have
your brain just working on 2 tracks at once, and transferring not only the
words but the meaning too. President Williams and his wife both spoke about the
Atonement and forgiveness. The congregation really seemed to enjoy the talk,
and we had multiple inactives show up. This past week or so Elder Cook and I
have called all the inactives on the branch list and let them know about the
new changes and to tell them that the new Branch President would like to meet
them. We had a couple show up to Church, who were brought by another member,
that aren't members that we have the number of now, and our investigator Maxsim
came too. We now have MLS all up-to-date and all the records sent in, we just
have a few more things to do and then everything should be caught up. So to
make things short, it seems that things can really turn around here, and that's
awesome. It's been way too long since things were appearing to make big
improvements. With next Sunday being Easter and all I don't know if I expect a
ton of attendees seeing is many will probably be visited family as some of them
have expressed, but we'll just see what happens. The inactives who came
expressed a deep desire to come to church and their love for the Gospel, they
even payed tithing! So all and all our week turned out to go pretty good. I
love you guys, stay safe and have a great week!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-Elder Skene<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_fqed68LqhaVFjbf_mJI_U43eqQnqXLIR6cYA_vYe_mT-4I83p9HI2WIHqhtoPPVR_-kFP1cG7oW0na58zPdRwribRNn51Zid9XBfjbwvXq9c5PIQUOuyHkaUnsH9XwpZrgUPrJJXwWwj/s1600/Elder+Cook.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_fqed68LqhaVFjbf_mJI_U43eqQnqXLIR6cYA_vYe_mT-4I83p9HI2WIHqhtoPPVR_-kFP1cG7oW0na58zPdRwribRNn51Zid9XBfjbwvXq9c5PIQUOuyHkaUnsH9XwpZrgUPrJJXwWwj/s320/Elder+Cook.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Elder Cook </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR2hNAuvg4ohNR6xZ8l7wgFwTWVK3RmWDOg5N0k9Ce8FjPGr6lfhkIUJ_TmU9ZvnPLu5kjorgpyBhxLhM1Lf70fbzByCPH0VjYxSI2Smx_ubOc6P-HFGbU81-2t4l3N77jv_BcZyRhzbjf/s1600/8+year+old+we+baptized.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR2hNAuvg4ohNR6xZ8l7wgFwTWVK3RmWDOg5N0k9Ce8FjPGr6lfhkIUJ_TmU9ZvnPLu5kjorgpyBhxLhM1Lf70fbzByCPH0VjYxSI2Smx_ubOc6P-HFGbU81-2t4l3N77jv_BcZyRhzbjf/s320/8+year+old+we+baptized.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
8 year old boy we baptised<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEhcGbRyB0c5k-uc3MKytE_cFsdK1bJcHefTeNcHTDbaPVIrwgV22OpMIfEkQI7Yy7OZMUkKEDuVNfn3rP6Zj0_NYvMlhxCB8CIAQhLYtFyRDLiX7KnvzHAZ8vqkcaFnjLqG7mcoNMPvwr/s1600/Selmash+Branch+Presidency.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEhcGbRyB0c5k-uc3MKytE_cFsdK1bJcHefTeNcHTDbaPVIrwgV22OpMIfEkQI7Yy7OZMUkKEDuVNfn3rP6Zj0_NYvMlhxCB8CIAQhLYtFyRDLiX7KnvzHAZ8vqkcaFnjLqG7mcoNMPvwr/s320/Selmash+Branch+Presidency.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Selmash Branch Presidency</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-25377102423412252402013-04-22T09:00:00.000-07:002013-05-05T18:48:47.693-07:00Forgot about the transfer news!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hey! So the news about the transfer is that there is no
transfer, we are both staying haha I forgot to tell you about that last week. I
anticipate maybe staying here for even a 6 transfer due to the branch situation
and all that. As far as updates on Selmash go we had a lesson with Vera this
week and the biggest progress we have made with her is that she will now pray
with us, she is just really accustomed to praying to icons and reciting written
prayers. We are working hard with her and Maxsim, and they are still both
progressing and keeping the committments that they are willing to accept and
both of them have accepted the soft baptismal challange, but the hard challenge
(as in setting a date, not just a comittment when they come to know that
the gospel) is TBA at this point. They are great people with honest
desires though and they have a lot of potential, I just wish I could help them
more along the way, but it's up to them to make the decisions, we just need to
do our part and understand that they have their own agency and that's part of
the whole plan. That's key to missionary work, you need to understand that
you need to do your part but that others will ultimately make their
own choices and we just need to love them undconditionally, and that's for
sure hard sometimes and you have to try especially when you don't have a bunch
of baptismal success, I suppose that everything can't be easy, but we're all
growing together right? Sunday was kinda intense but I'll let you know
more when I'm home about some of the things that need to be dealt with here,
well the things that aren't confidential I mean but yeah it's always a great
week in Selmash haha. The work is moving forward and miracles are happening
here in the mission. I miss and love you guys, have a great week and be safe!
Until next Monday,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-Elder Skene</div>
</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-72016426654848206902013-04-15T09:00:00.000-07:002013-05-05T20:23:42.762-07:00Conference!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hey! So as an update, we have 2 investigators who could be
likely to accept a baptismal invitation here in the near future, namely Vera
and Maxsim, we are searching for other people to meet with though and we'll be
calling everyone on the member list this week. This last Sunday was
interesting, I was pretty busy helping President Williams with administrative
stuff and learning my way around the MLS system with the Branch Presidency. I'm
happy that I've gotten a chance to be part of the whole operation, it's nice to
have a change of pace now and again. Things went smoothly this past week for the
most part and we were able to do everything that we were supposed to other than
send in the weekly financial report through MLS, so President Williams is going
to send from the office so it should work out, but either way we need to call a
Branch Clerk asap so we can deter this problem in the future. I was able to
watch the Saturday session of conference but barely the Sunday due to the
errands we had to run, but I'm enjoying being pretty busy. To answer your questions
from last week I would recommend Elder Cook's talk to listen to, it gave me
some interesting insights, on things. When it comes to peace in the soul it
truly is an eternal principle that no amount of wordly goods or treasures can
really bring us sound and consistent peace, it's only our relationships, good
deeds, and most importantly, our standing before God that can do that. I'm glad
to hear that you guys are doing well, I gotta run though, so have a great week
and be safe, much love,<br />
<br />
-Elder Skene<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIB_-UZ4ZO-Io6aOZ6tXcgbm0YmhSykj_bubUl1r2ljg_uFSRE_ZSd9e_JJGzUPKm1K2G5T-mdkLSvtcHMUuw3NzBDfh93TNbHYMvhJT4k7PhKsISgT-N-hlv0eBc3Yx6WM5L1u0d9gmC0/s1600/icicle.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIB_-UZ4ZO-Io6aOZ6tXcgbm0YmhSykj_bubUl1r2ljg_uFSRE_ZSd9e_JJGzUPKm1K2G5T-mdkLSvtcHMUuw3NzBDfh93TNbHYMvhJT4k7PhKsISgT-N-hlv0eBc3Yx6WM5L1u0d9gmC0/s320/icicle.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Russian icicle</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1eWbPaF5_06KeJLfdDqzFawjOAJFypgvBDenou4da3B9TDbImsKADHBQs5AHmPCeA33ZQ3HzUw2U2T0q4c4rDZ824IBoH838mzq3tQoz1hKTcCcUbEu14uS0Qn7T1Kgk6ggQwVp-NoIim/s1600/me+in+the+branch+office.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1eWbPaF5_06KeJLfdDqzFawjOAJFypgvBDenou4da3B9TDbImsKADHBQs5AHmPCeA33ZQ3HzUw2U2T0q4c4rDZ824IBoH838mzq3tQoz1hKTcCcUbEu14uS0Qn7T1Kgk6ggQwVp-NoIim/s320/me+in+the+branch+office.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In the Branch Office</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK47EP7avfMg8RdZNgovG5-Xep10n8WQ0hTv-p6zx8ZXXAaNoLgRU6nqh0EyGY8v4DTF2kXyZYAvOjAMNVvzLV4uhd8IG2wWfR53OumwZwc27JRttltXBoh2jRkg7gLwiCJ-FokG8-XbvW/s1600/me+in+the+apartment+with+an+awesome+tie.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK47EP7avfMg8RdZNgovG5-Xep10n8WQ0hTv-p6zx8ZXXAaNoLgRU6nqh0EyGY8v4DTF2kXyZYAvOjAMNVvzLV4uhd8IG2wWfR53OumwZwc27JRttltXBoh2jRkg7gLwiCJ-FokG8-XbvW/s320/me+in+the+apartment+with+an+awesome+tie.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The apartment (nice tie!)</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTX_yBKwCC458GTHVhpqXcE1JkC25xJ4ylMokvANeaRzacs4OBJkdMe7R8iJvg0KObK-SLhW_SsFgxSVLmkPXdQDrwpUXqR2maZHpaBhNaz0Ixai36cx5xKtBUL7khvl7cfSbqnU5YPsSi/s1600/with+Elder+Reingard+and+Elder+Cook.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTX_yBKwCC458GTHVhpqXcE1JkC25xJ4ylMokvANeaRzacs4OBJkdMe7R8iJvg0KObK-SLhW_SsFgxSVLmkPXdQDrwpUXqR2maZHpaBhNaz0Ixai36cx5xKtBUL7khvl7cfSbqnU5YPsSi/s320/with+Elder+Reingard+and+Elder+Cook.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Elder Reingard (my trainer), me and Elder Cook (who I am training)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-69401820372483006782013-04-08T09:00:00.000-07:002013-05-05T18:43:36.781-07:00Happy Easter! (as far as Russia is concerned)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hey! We had a good Easter this week, and we'll find out
transfers this week but my guess is that I'll be staying in Selmash for a
little while, due to some new updates. Yesterday, Elder Williams, a senior
couple missionary from the office in Rostov who's an awesome guy was set apart
as the new Branch President for our ward, and I'm the second counselor. I'm
serving along with a first counselor named Yuri, a nice guy in our branch who's
Russian though so he doesn't really speak any English, so I have my work cut
out for me and we are on a blitzkrieg mission here to turn things around in our
branch here as quickly as we can with making sure that the right steps are
taken so we don't rush anything, but I gotta be honest, it's pretty
intimidating but I know that with the Lord's help I can do it, I know he issues
calls that we can fulfill if we just rely on him for strength. Other than that
we are indefinitely putting-off Pavel's baptism until some things can be
figured out, and this week we'll be meeting with Vera and Maxsim and trying to
make things happen for them, and contacting some people we have been teaching
on the street from this past week, so hopefully some cool stuff will come out
of all of it. We have a youth baptism in the next couple weeks too who technically
counts as a convert baptism due to some odd circumstances but nevertheless he
is an 8 year old, and we'll be watching conference, the general sessions I mean
this Saturday and Sunday, so I'll let you know how it goes but I haven't seen
any of it yet. I love you guys, thanks for everything you do for me and all of
your support, have a great week and be safe! The Church is true! Until next
Monday,<br />
<br />
-Elder Skene</div>
</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-17061628500978993862013-04-01T09:00:00.000-07:002013-05-05T18:41:26.443-07:00Happy Easter!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hey! Thanks for your emails as usual, I loved them and it's
a bummer that I missed Easter with you guys this year but I'll be seeing you in
6 months to the day, so we'll have plenty of Holidays to catch up on. Easter
here is this upcoming Sunday, so we'll see how that goes, last year there
wasn't much other than a lot of people going to church and telling you that
Christ has risen, which is true, so we'll see what this year holds in store. We
committed an investigator, Pavel, to baptism and he accepted this week for the
21st of April, but we'll see what happens with that, he is having some personal
issues that could prolong the whole process or postpone the date. We had a
lesson with him again this week and while we were waiting for him to show up a
lady walked by the building and was interested in the church building when she
noticed the repairman that was working there with his son, both members from Zapandy. We together taught her a lesson and they showed her the building and
we both took down here number after giving her a Book of Mormon, and she along
with Pavel both showed up to Church this week, it was awesome. The only worry
is that it may have seemed a little strange to them because to the few people
there due to the temple trip, but they said that they liked it and she stayed
and participated in Sunday School. We'll keep working hard here to move the
work forward, I love you guys, have a great week and be safe!<br />
<br />
-Elder Skene</div>
</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-22022713330834550972013-03-25T09:00:00.000-07:002013-05-05T18:39:48.701-07:00Quick note for this week<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hey! So I don't have time to write you guys personally this
week really, but thanks for the emails and I'm reading them. I'll let you know
if I get the package, thanks so much for going to the time and effort to send
it! We are still working with some individuals towards baptism, namely Pavel
and Maxsim, both of which have accepted the soft baptismal challenge on the
first lesson, and both of which are meeting with us this week. We were able to
have a member present on almost all of there lessons and there looks to be some
promise on their behalf. We are planning to commit both of them to baptism this
week. That's about it for this week, I love you guys, have a great week and
stay safe!<br />
<br />
-Elder Skene</div>
</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-39530192988543381752013-03-18T09:00:00.000-07:002013-05-05T18:08:38.880-07:00following the Spirit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey! I'll be staying here for another transfer with Elder Cook but this
transfer is only 4 weeks so we'll see what happens. We are still working
with the same people that we were working with in the past few weeks,
but we were able to meet a man named Aleksei who wants to change his
life. We felt prompted to talk to him when we were in the park so we sat
down on the bench were he was sitting alone and eventually got his
number and we are gonna get a meeting with him this week if we can.
Another man about our age was in the same situation, in a different park
haha, but we walked past him originally, then I asked Elder Cook if he
thought that we should go back and talk to him, we decided that we would
turn around and speak to him if he was still there. On the path he met
us and we gave him a Book of Mormon and got his number. We had another
lesson with Maxsim this week with a member too, his biggest issue is
that he is just really into different philosophies and doesn't like to
align himself with one confession, but he accepted the soft baptismal
challenge, two times actually so we'll keep working with him. I gotta
run so until next week! Be safe and have a good one! I love you!<br />
<br />-Elder Skene</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-45250724473633817552013-03-11T09:00:00.000-07:002013-08-04T20:15:00.378-07:00Tales from Selmash<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]-->
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hey everyone, still working on wrapping up the college stuff
so this will be shorter, so this week we worked hard and saw miracles, working
with active members who were beginning to lose their vision or inactives who
have lost their way, multiple people opened up to us that we would have never
thought would, people who were claimed by others to never want to see the
missionaries, let alone talk to them. It gives me hope and faith that I know
that if we try our best here Elder Cook and I can feel successful and make
things happen, even if that means that our work down the road will make a huge
difference. When things go rough and it seems that we just can never hit gold
no matter how hard we search, it's important to keep in mind the future and the
eternal perspective. Many people in the book of Mormon saw little to no
success, but they were successful, what a principle, only in the Gospel can one
really make it or break invisibly. It doesn't matter if we had tons of baptisms
or none at all as long as we go down fighting, as long as we finish strong and
keep the faith. If we work hard and try our best then we really don't have
anything to worry about. We are hoping and praying every day that our work will
bear some fruit that we can see with our own eyes, but if not, we will carry on
and keep a smile on our faces. I love you guys, have a great week and stay
safe, and always remember to keep the eternal perspective in mind as we all
constantly have to remind ourselves of these principles and teachings.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-Elder Skene</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
</style>
<![endif]--></div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-31595433327026082822013-03-04T09:00:00.000-08:002013-03-06T10:13:54.655-08:00Tales from Selmash<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey everyone, I wish I could tell you all the crazy stories of
everything that happens here but they don't want us writing things like
that home. Don't worry though, I'm keeping track of everything and
writing it down in my journals or my notebook. This week we were able to
get two member present lessons, and two promises that this next Sunday
we will have some people at Church, one of the two seems a little bit
more on the iffy side of things but hey, it happens. We met with Tolik
on the street and have had a lesson with him and he accepted the soft
baptismal commitment, and Yura, our other investigator, said he would
come meet us at the branch sometime this week, and while we were waiting
for Tolik, I should have payed attention more but it seemed like he
wouldn't come for a second but my doubt was swept away to be honest, I
just knew that he would come, like a confirmation from the spirit, and
low and behold he showed up and it was a good lesson. As we were
wrapping up he shared with us his desire to start a family and how he
hopes that God will help him, so of course we are gonna jump on that in
our next meeting with him. But the work rolls forward here and we are
really trying to do everything in our power to make things happen, but
as seen with events in the past, we really can't influence anyone's
agency, but we can have faith that they will make the right choices, and
follow the spirit that we know they are feeling. It's amazing to see
how much you care about people you've just met, and their salvation,
back home it was usually like, oh well if he wants to hate someone or
something to each his own, but here it's something totally different,
you pray and fast for people you may never even see again, and desire
them to partake of the fruit that the Lord has blessed us with a chance
to partake of. All and all, despite it's setbacks, things in Selmash are
going well. I love you guys, the Church is true! Have a great week,
I'll be seeing you before you know it!<br />
<br />-Elder Skene</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-67854946065606597382013-02-18T09:00:00.000-08:002013-03-06T10:10:18.849-08:00Miracle!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey I wrote you guys already quite a bit but this will refer more to my
week here. This week I experienced what I would consider a miracle. We
have an investigator in her 40's named Natalia who is to be baptized on
the 24th of February, and we have completed all of the lessons but the
last half of lesson 4, and all have been with a member present. She was
planning to come to church and have another lesson with us but she had
to go to the hospital because she drank some solution that looked like
water and it messed with her body. We went to the hospital on Friday at
the time we originally schedule the lesson and towards the end of the
lesson I felt inspired to tell her that if she would exercise enough
faith, she would be able to attend sacrament meeting. The next day Elder
Cook and I were on the street walking contacting and we received a
phone call informing us that she wouldn't be released from the hospital
until the following Monday, thus she wasn't able to come to church. I
honestly wasn't 100 percent sure what to think after that, I knew that
the prompting that I received wasn't something that I just thought up in
my mind, it was something that she needed to hear. Sunday morning
broke, and she was at church attentive as ever, and was able to attend sacrament meeting. She told us that she just left a note at her bedside
and came to Church, and then returned to the hospital. We are finishing
the lessons this week and have the baptismal interview scheduled, and
we're really excited for things to happen. That's about it for this
week, until next Monday, stay classy and may the force be with you!<br />
<br />-Elder Skene<br />
<span><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span></span></div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-11299394310111510572013-02-11T09:00:00.000-08:002013-02-17T22:04:08.496-08:00The Work Rolls Forward!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey! Things here are pretty good in Selmash, I'm just still training the
new Elder Cook here. He is from Palm Bay, Florida, 19 years old, a few
siblings, one of which is in Hong Kong on a mission right now, and the
rest is TBA. By the way my last companion Elder Brinkerhoff is from
Grant's Pass, Oregon. Anyways, this week we were just contacting and had
a meeting set up where we couldn't get a hold of the people, and we
didn't know what we could do to make something happen, and then a random
lady in her late 40's named Natalia, (we can say the first name now),
stopped us and asked to meet with us, she came when the other people
were supposed to, so everything worked out fine. She accepted baptism at
the end of the lesson and is supposed to be baptized on the 24th of
February, so that's good news, and we are still waiting for Sergei to get
out of the hospital, Angelika to finish her exams, and we're still just
working with the other potentials that we have. Also, Elder Cook had a
couple of warts on his hands and feet, which as far as he knew it was
like 3 or 4, well we walked into the dermatologist and it turned out to
be like 10, and we got them frozen off, so he couldn't walk a lot but we
still managed to do the work like normal for the most part. Well, I
gotta get going on the school application but know that I love you guys!
Be safe and have a great week!<br />
<br />-Elder Skene<br />
<span><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span></span></div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-79631131317409139602013-02-04T09:00:00.000-08:002013-02-17T21:59:37.154-08:00Training!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey so I'm not really gonna have time to write you each individually
this week due to applying to BYU and all but I'll try to make this as
informative as I can, and if there's time left I'll try to send you each
something, but as always I loved you emails and it's awesome to get to
hear from you and see how things are going. So I got the transfer calls
and it looks like I'll be training Elder Cook from Florida, I don't know
a lot about him, just that apparently he likes Star Wars so that's a
plus. I'm gonna send you guys some stuff soon if I can that I was able
to get, like a legit Russian version of monopoly that was in the
Severny apartment when I served with Elder Jacobson, but now that board
games are against the rules I'm just gonna send it home, it's a smaller
box than usual. I think you'll like it. <br />
<br />Other than that this week wasn't super active and full of meetings or
anything, it just seemed that a lot of things fell through. We are still
waiting on our investigator to get out of the hospital so we
can baptism him, and we are still working with the woman who promised to
be baptised in February. We recently received a referral from
the Severny Elders that's a couple that was interested in the Gospel,
the first time the Elders came in contact with them we received the
referral but there was a missing digit, so we weren't able to reach
them. I woke up in the morning a few days later with a feeling that
somehow we were going find an investigator who would show real interest,
I really wanted to express faith and confidence in the work and that
things would progress here in Selmash. Later that same day I received a
call from Severny, after they ran into those same people again after
they waved the Elders down. They were asking why the Elders didn't call
them and they were excited about and interested in the Church. They then
promptly took down there number and gave them a Book of Mormon, and
didn't hesitate to pass it on to us, now we are planning to meet with
them this week. I know that if we express faith, the Lord will bless us,
sometimes it's not always his will for things to go the way that we
want, but it seems that if we just ask in faith, we will receive it.<br /><br />I love you guys, have a great week and be safe!<br /><br />-Elder Skene</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8788190970748760280.post-67993554158333802182013-01-28T09:00:00.000-08:002013-02-17T21:53:04.284-08:00A Miracle<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey this is gonna be short but some cool stuff happened this week, an
answer to our prayers and fasts that have gone on for a few weeks, our
investigator who seemed to have vanished
without a trace a week or two before the baptism came to Church and
stayed for all the meetings! It turns out that what we thought was the
case, an unexpected problem occurred, he had been in the hospital for
some issues with his heart, and now he has to get heart surgery in a
couple of days and will be returning to Rostov after it in probably
about a month, and then we will baptism him assuming all goes as
planned. He came from the hospital just to come to Church and then went
right back, and many of the members here were very welcoming to him and
they based their lessons around helping him as much as they could as he
willingly read and participated with everything, it went pretty well. He
will probably go up to Moscow or another city up in the North for the
operation, and we will try to keep in contact with him, and before we
left we gave him a blessing with Branch President in his office, and it
went well. Other than that there isn't a lot to report this week, we
have just been working and have gotten a couple appointments and
contacts through the area book, but they haven't usually happened due to
a cancellation at the last minute. What can you do though, just your
best to try to keep working.<br /><br />Thanks for everything, you guys have a great week and stay safe! I love you!<br /><br />-Elder Skene</div>
Elder Travis Skenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15452790585670327888noreply@blogger.com0