We had transfers this week. We will have a new sister and a new elder in our district. Elder Malloy, the elder who arrived here with us initially and has been serving in Toliatti for the whole time we have been here, will be staying again this cycle so we will have been able to serve with him our entire mission. He started in the New City branch then went to the Old City Branch, then Komsomolski, then New City, and now back to Komsomolski. To be sure, it is unusual for an elder to be in an area for this long, but it has given us an opportunity to really get to know him. His companion Elder Bullough will be getting on the big bird for home and will arrive on his birthday. He said his bags are packed with more things for other people than with his own personal belongings. There are two girls from our district who are staying in America and will be in Utah for Christmas so their parents sent gifts for them. The zone leaders will continue to be here which is great for us because they are awesome missionaries and they also come and give us language lessons. Elder Glavatsky is a native speaker and helps us with our pronunciation, speaking and reading. Elder Lythgoe teaches us grammar. Their efforts have not been in vain because Elder Peterson was asked just before church to give a brief talk in Sacrament meeting and did so without any help in translation. He is pretty amazing. He also said the opening prayers in both Sacrament meeting and Sunday School. We were missing the majority of our members today for some reason which was too bad because President and Sister Sartori were visiting the branch today.
Our meeting with Suzy this week went really well. We each shared one of our favorite scriptures in 3 Nephi and likened it to our own life experiences. Our goal is to motivate her to read the Book of Mormon and to be able to recognize how they can help her in her own personal life. She told us a story of having a question about something recently and opening the Liahona and finding her answer on the page she opened it to. We explained that the scriptures can work just like that too. She also told us about how when she was a little girl, she would always ask her parents about God and they would tell her to just go and play with her toys. So she has always had an interest in God and is starting to get some of her questions answered.
We had a fun evening with the branch president and his wife this week. They feel ostracized by most of the members in the branch and so we wanted to have them over for dinner and just to have some fun. They are a younger couple who have only been married just over a year. They are so much fun and do soooo much to help the missionaries and to try and strengthen the branch. It is going to take some serious change and a lot of time, but we assure them that the Lord will bless all of us in the work if we can just stay the course and do the right things. Many situations make it difficult to do sometimes, but we know that the good will eventually win out. So anyway, we ate some tasty vegetable lasagna, played games while listening to Christmas music, and just enjoyed each other's company.
This weekend we have started seeing Christmas tree lots (loosely stated) popping up around town. They are more or less places with piles of trees. We are enjoying our little artificial tree. We are going to show a couple of the talks from The First Presidency Christmas Devotional at our YSA FHE this next week. We have been reading in the New Testament about Christ's birth. We are grateful for this special time of year to more fully remember God's gift of His Son and to feel of His love for us.
We were reminded again of the sacrifices these Saints here make to live the gospel. Two sisters from one of our branches left yesterday to make the two- day train trip to attend the Kiev Temple. Each of them have younger children to care for, and I assume they have willing husbands who stayed behind to care for them. When we see such faith and great efforts to attend the temple, we feel so blessed to live where we can get to the temple in 15 minutes. For that matter, within an hour, we can be to several temples. It will be so interesting to see how the church will grow here in Russia in the next 20 years. There is so much to learn here and with each generation there will be increased faith and strength.
1 - Pet Cemetery in the Forest
2 - Happy Birthday Sister Pearce
3 - Happy Birthday Elder Bullough
4 - Elders Hangen and Brieden
4 - Elders Hangen and Brieden
5 - Our District
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