We had district meeting over the telephone this last week because
our district leader is in a town four hours away from here now. It
wasn't very effective because it is hard for everyone to hear over the
phone. The rest of us met here at our apartment as usual and we put the
phone on speaker phone. We will have to try and think of some way to
improve it, but I don't know what that will be. Part of the challenge
is translating the language; our district leader is a native and me and
dad and our new sister still need translation. Our new sister, Sister
Upshaw, participated in one of two groups who were in a pilot program at
the MTC recently. They were only there for 9 weeks instead of 12 and
spent little time learning the language so she is here knowing very
little Russian. She explained that the thinking behind it is that most
of your language learning is done in the field anyway so they are seeing
if it will be of better benefit to spend more time learning in the
field than in the MTC. Her companion here is a native who speaks some
English so she will learn quickly from someone who is very capable. It
will be really tough though, I'm sure.
Well, our YSA FHE this last week came in at a count
of 14--ONE SHORT of our goal!! But we are encouraged to know that we
will make it soon. The missionaries are doing a great job of bringing
investigators. We will be losing a couple of our regulars who will be
leaving to go to school in Utah soon so we need to work even harder to
bring back less actives and strengthen our group. We went to the
Seminaries and Institute graduation program Saturday evening. The youth
from Samara came down to be a part of it, along with President
Kozmenin, the counselor in the mission presidency over Institute.
Several of the youth in Samara are from Ghana and have been in Russia
about as long as we have. It was good to speak English with them. They
are a happy, strong group. We marvel at their character because it is
very difficult to be a Latter-day Saint youth here.
We took a field trip last P-day to a village just
outside of one of our towns called Fyorodkova. It is nestled between
the Volga River and what they call mountains (but to us they are hills).
We took the little van out to the "beach" and then walked back about
40 minutes to see the large church that was built back in the time of
their Revolution. Natasha said every village had a church like this.
We walked along rows of dachas and an occasional, unusually large and
modern home. There were large ponds here and there that were pretty.
The whole time we were in the village we didn't see more than just a
few people and they were in the little store where we stopped to buy an
ice cream. The elders said they have gone out to the village before but
it wasn't a very productive finding area, and we can see why. It was
nice for a change of scenery and good to see another style of living for
the Russian people.
We had a couple over for FHE on Monday night; she is
a member, he is not. They have been to church the past couple of weeks
and have a desire to start coming back to church after a long period of
inactivity. We had them over in December when we first arrived here
but still hadn't seen them at church. Sometimes the timing just has to
be right. They are good people, and we hope they will find their way
back. Dad helped a brother with his home teaching one evening. It's
encouraging to see that at least a few people are taking President
Zolotov's vision of home teaching to heart. Our investigator Svetlana
is thinking more seriously about baptism. We asked her what she wants
us to teach her so that she can be ready to make her decision. She said
faith to trust her thoughts and emotions. For several months, she has
said she would be ready to get baptized in June--we'll see... Dad was
asked to speak at a priesthood leadership meeting that was presided over
by a member of the Second Quorum of Seventies. The meeting was
Saturday morning, and President Zolotov asked him Thursday afternoon to
speak. That was a little stressful for him, but I'm sure he did great.
He spoke on the real growth of the church, how to retain our members.
We are still struggling with making the branch leadership changes here
as we prepare to consolidate branches. It is difficult to find someone
who is worthy and willing to accept callings. It is an interesting
challenge, and we will learn a great deal from this humbling experience.
We are headed to Samara today for zone conference.
It's good timing; we're needing a boost. We will stay in the second
apartment again and come home Wednesday. We were hoping to take a
stroll along the river front when we get there, but it is raining.
After our rain, we are supposed to get into the mid 80's which will
feel very warm and muggy.
We are realizing how fast the time is going by and want to try harder to make the time count. There is so much good to be done!
1- Church in Fyodrovka
2- Dom garden
3- Dom sweet Dom
4- Elder Glavatsky, Andre and Svetlana, Elder Malloy
5- Fyodrovka
6- Garden in bloom
7- Home in Fyodrovka
8- Our Football field
9- Our grocery store
10- Our Volleyball court
11- Post Office and Barbershop
12- Seminary and Institute graduation
13- Wooden home in Fyodrovka
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