It seems I’m starting to figure something out

Dear Family,

Privyet from Chelyabinsk. You may already know this but “Chely-Abinsk” literally means “Frozen Udder” This goes back to the days when it was a big dairy town, and actually produced 98% of the non-pasteurized milk for three-fourths of the northern hemisphere. Interestingly enough they feed their cows mostly corn, or as the Indians call it: maize.
We had a long week come to think about it. We had the last P-Day with the missionaries who were leaving before they got transferred then the next day sent them off then the next day sent ourselves off to Yekat for zone council. It was great as usual and the A.P’s did a great presentation about using Hope Love and Charity as the motivation and reason for our work. It was really edifying. We spent the other session of the meeting getting ready for Elder Gibbons of the Seventy to come to each of the zones. That was yesterday and it was definitely a very special and memorable experience. We even got the opportunity to interview all of us, which because he’s touring the whole mission in just one week was special because some zones don’t even get any interviews because of his travel schedule. I took it upon myself to freak out the zone about his coming during the days prior to his arrival. It’s just missionary protocol to assume that a General Authority is going to crack down on us so we were all on hyped up alert as I exaggerated things that president told us he did during his previous visit. But it was all nonsense because he was a very humble loving man who’s not into the whole crack-down type mission visits. It was quite amazing to see how Christlike he actually was and how he was a real example of having His countenance upon him.

It seems I’m starting to figure something out about spiritual experiences. I’m always a little frustrated in how in the moment everything makes sense and nothing seems hard or complicated but then once it’s faded it’s impossible to see with those same eyes. And even when I’m in those moments I try to take mental notes that life’s simple and real problems are few and I need to remember this later but I just cannot feel that way outside of those moments, like some kind of cycling amnesia. And the conclusion is that I just need more and more of those experiences until they become part of my nature and I had the remarkable opportunity to meet a man that has done just that. I have a testimony of the calls and authority of Lord’s special servants.

Love,

Rob

(A preview of a documentary about the radiation)