Today is transfer day. Most of our district is staying the same. We'll get one new sister, one new elder (who already served here and we adore), and the companionship who lives a long ways away from us will be forming their own district with the other companionship who will be added to their area.
Our Seniors' Conference was enjoyable. We arrived in time to report on our area and hear other couples tell about what they are doing. It's obvious that we all have different talents and abilities and are serving where we can best contribute. There is one couple who just arrived and will be going to start their service as the new CES couple. We remember being in that situation:) There is another native couple who we just fell in love with. They have doubled the sacrament meeting attendance in their branch in the short three months they have been serving there. I'm telling you, if we could get more Russian senior couples to serve, the church would grow by leaps and bounds. They just innately know how to relate to the people. They not only know how to speak their language, but they really know how to speak their spiritual language too, if that makes any sense. The less-active members can more easily trust them. They don't necessarily appreciate Americans, who appear to them as if we know it all, telling them what to do and how to feel. This Russian couple told how they were sent to their area with no idea of what to do. They had a branch list and that was it. So they bought a map, started locating addresses, and went to visit people. They were disillusioned by the fact that nothing was happening after a couple of months. But they were persistent, kept visiting people, and the people are starting to come back to church. We were so humbled and so grateful that they are making such a difference. We mentioned to the president somewhat teasingly (but it would honestly be great) that he should move them around to each mission area every six months and let them work their magic. We know that won't happen; we just need to learn from their example and try harder. We spent quite a bit of time with this couple trying to communicate with them and really enjoyed getting to know them. Elder C was easier to understand than his wife. She speaks very fast. But we managed to get by. They understood most of what we said, and we understood hardly anything they said, but we smiled and laughed and were able to make enough sense to ask related questions. Elder Peterson and Elder C became fast friends when they learned that they shared the same taste in musical groups--Foreigner, Rolling Stones, White Snake, to name a few. Never would have guessed it in a million years! We will keep in touch with them through email.
We took a boat tour on the Volga River, walked along the new park they are constructing down by the river, played Russian General Conference bingo, had a testimony meeting, had an intense training from the mission president and his wife regarding training they had just received at the mission presidents' training from the area presidency. He had several slides with at least 25 items on each slide of things to be careful of that cause "drag" in the mission; or, in other words, distractions from the work. President wants us to
encourage the elders and sisters to avoid these things and do all we can to keep them on track. We also ate lots of good food and just enjoyed being together.
We participated in a Toliatti district service project on Saturday morning at a children's school for the hearing impaired. We were asked to clear a field of trees to prepare it for a park that will be put in eventually. There were about 30 people there including members and missionaries. Brethren and missionaries used chain saws and axes to cut down the trees, and the rest of us hauled the limbs off to another field. It had rained earlier that morning but cleared up and let us accomplish what we needed in the two hours we were there. Typical to President Zolotov, he provided lunch for everyone who attended. We built a fire, boiled water for hot chocolate, and roasted hot dogs.
Amidst these activities, this week we managed to visit with a couple of investigators, attend Institute, and Elder Peterson trained the district and branch councils on effective branch councils. So it's been a busy week. I was able to watch the RS General Broadcast last night and enjoyed that. We are looking forward to General Conference this next weekend.
We were reminded this week that God calls ordinary people to do extraordinary things, and as long as we allow ourselves to be worthy vessels of the Lord, he will tell us what to do. I pray that will be the case for each of us!
1 - The Stevens'
2 - Sartori's, Stevens', Chiperov's, Elder Wing
3 - A "Birdseye View" of the Volga
4 - The Chiperov's
5 - Our awesome district
6 - Several of the Young Single Adults in New City
6 - Several of the Young Single Adults in New City
7 - New City Missionaries and Dolgov brothers
8 - Togliatti District members at our Branch Council Training
9 - Our Volga River Cruise Boat
9 - Our Volga River Cruise Boat
10 - President and Sister Sartori, Elder and Sister Childers
11 - Looking at the bank from the river
12 - Elder and Sister Connell
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