A baptism in the Volga River is a good thing. Saturday an eight-year old member of one of the branches was baptized. His parents and older sister had all been baptized in the river ten years ago and so it was their desire that he would also be baptized in the same place. It was actually quite a story of faith and prayer because the previous night it was raining really hard for quite some time. His mom told him that if it continued to rain, it was okay because he could just get baptized in the font at the branch building. Well, he wouldn't have any part of that and said he had to be baptized in the river like his family was so they decided they would pray and ask for the weather to be good enough for him to realize the desire of his heart. Saturday morning was cool and cloudy but not rainy. Their prayers had been answered! What a great experience for this young boy who will remember an answer to prayer on his baptism day. There was some concern for having the baptism at 11 in the morning because other people might be in the area, but the branch president wasn't able to attend any sooner than that. The cooler weather was a blessing because it kept a lot of people inside, and we didn't have any interruptions at all. There was such a great spirit there, many of the district members were there to support him, and he was so excited he could hardly contain himself. We have become friends with this family; they asked dad to offer the opening prayer and me, the closing. So I had to study up on my grammar and kind of what I wanted to say beforehand. It's a different experience to actually have to think about what you're going to say in a simple prayer, but I'm still not confident enough and don't have enough vocabulary to be spontaneous. I'm sure we were understandable though and hope we added to the spirit of the meeting. The elders had to get special permission to attend and it worked out just great. The area in which we were was not a beach, and it was quite a ways down from the parking lot and public area of the place so there wasn't any immodesty, loud music, or other distractions that could have been a concern. After the service, we all noticed the stark contrast in spirit as we walked back up the hill to take our bus back home. Many wedding parties were gathering for pictures because this is at a park where there's a big monument and a pretty view of the river. So there were a lot of cars, music, party atmosphere...a definite "spirit killer." We were so grateful to have been able to be set apart from the world even though we were not too far from it. Baptisms are my absolutely favorite meeting of the church because of the strong spirit that is always there.
As I mentioned last week, we are trying to meet with more members of the branches to strengthen our relationship with them. We love meeting with them and getting to know them better. It makes such a difference when we see them at church. All of a sudden we are friends instead of just strange missionaries. One of the members we met with is Brother Ivan. He's probably 60 or so, comes and plays ultimate frisbee with us every week, bicycles, scuba dives. He's quite the sports enthusiast. He had been taking care of his ill mother for many years up until she died several months ago and so he hadn't been to church until recently. He is such a loving person and is good to have back in the branch. He is the only member of the church in his family. He shares his apartment with another less-active member, Albert, who works long hours each day to make enough money to bring his wife and three chlidren from Madagascar or somewhere to live here.
We also met with Segun, our Nigerian member, and finally met his wife Lena this last week. She is actually in the hospital today and will be having their baby in the next couple of days. She'll be in the hospital for two weeks after that. Quite a difference from the two-day stay in America! They are sad because Segun is unable to renew his visa and will have to return to Africa September 1 for six months. I just hope he will be able to come back. Lena was very friendly and has agreed to let us call her and visit. She and Segun speak English to each other; in fact, her English is quite good so we get along just great. She lives with her mom who will help take care of them, but it will be a hard situation.
We are changing things up tomorrow night for FHE...going to a stadium to watch a soccer game. Admission is free so we're not expecting too much, but we think it will still be fun to watch. I don't know how many of the YSA will be interested enough to come, but Brother Ivan is coming and inviting a less-active member to come along so that should be great. We're gearing up for the big YSA Conference in Moscow the following week. The kids are so excited! We're just hoping to survive:) We don't have any specific assignments other than to hang out with the kids; hope we'll be able to help with some of the cooking or something. There should be plenty of kids who speak English so we'll have lots of translators when we need them.
1. Costia, Dima, Stas, Paulina, Sister Oshepkova
2. Sister Peterson, Elder Taylor, Elder Morris
3. Baptism Attendance
4. Rada, Nadia, Lucina, Tanya, Elder Long, Elder Taylor
5. Oshepkov Family
6. Brother Oshepkov and Fsyeva
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