Ken and Stacy in Russia: December 3, 2012

We can't believe that we turned the calendar over into December, and we still don't have any snow. But who's complaining!! We had a couple of inches earlier in the week, but it warmed up, started raining, and melted all the snow. The people here can't believe how warm it is for this time of year, but not to worry; it will be cold soon enough.

Our Family Home Evening this week was at an all-time low--two members and one investigator. So we're putting on a full-court press to get our members here this week. The zone leaders and district leaders will be in Samara for training this week which means two less companionships to work with so we need to drum up some meetings, too. We had some good meetings with less-actives this week so that is good. We were also back in Prebrezjhni meeting with three families, two of which are active families, and one less-active family. We were hoping the less-active couple would have come to church today, but they didn't. It is a 40-minute drive to the branch which can be a hindrance with gas prices the way they are.

We said goodbye to Nina and Roman this week. They will be leaving on Monday to stay with their daughter who lives in Virginia for five months so by the time they come back, we will already be gone. They are the older couple who we have been meeting with. She is the District RS President, and he is a nonmember. We had such a neat experience with them last night as we had our last meeting with them. After the meeting, we left their building and we felt a sorrow for them and realized how much we were going to miss them. We have really developed a friendship with them. Their window opens on the fourth floor to the silent street. It was dimly lit and snow was lightly falling. As we bundled up to walk to our next appointment, we looked up to their apartment and Roman had opened the window and was waving goodbye to us, and we called back, "dasvidanea." He watched us until we rounded the little corner of his little street…I know; I looked back. We know that he was touched by the spirit. We pray that he will be brave enough to go to church while he's in America. We really think he is ready to receive the gospel.

Our three new slang words are "dang it," "bummer," and "weird." The Russian English teacher who came over with her daughter last Sunday to meet with us taught them to us. We'll have to throw out one or two when we're with the youth this week. We have been meeting with the ward families on our own from time to time. We do our best at understanding what they say but mostly listen or try to get across a thought or two. We are prepared with our spiritual thought so they understand the most important part we have to say anyway. We are spending FHE tonight with President Zolotov and his family. They are fixing another of their favorite dishes for dinner, and we are bringing apple crisp. President tasted it at a leadership meeting in Samara when Sister Sartori made it, and he loved it and wants to know how to make it.

We started our Teacher Development class in the other branch yesterday and had ten people come so that was good. Every organization except for Elders Quorum was represented. We'll teach the second half this Sunday. Elder Peterson is getting together a presentation on asking effective questions. President Sartori has asked him to do a one-hour training in zone conference later this month. In fact, we will travel with him to the other zone after our conference and then on to another area for the weekend, so we will be seeing more of the mission which we consider a real blessing. We will also be able to see all of the missionaries which will be so great. A few of them who served with us here in Toliatti have been in the Saratov Zone which is furthest away from us so we don't get to see them so it will be fun to run into them again.

We have seen a few hints of Christmas here. They don't celebrate Christmas so much as they celebrate New Year's, but it looks like the Christian influence is changing things a little bit here. Our little local market has a few lights hung inside and tinsel wrapped around the standing houseplants. I don't even remember seeing that last year. We saw a few trees decorated in New City when we were working there last week. The central square here in Old City had a huge tree decorated last year. Families and friends exchange gifts on December 31 and then the Orthodox Christmas is January 7. Remembering that the Soviet traditions did not include any belief in God, we don't see any nativity displays or the like. The Orthodox churches have traditional masses on New Year's Eve with lengthy sermons and choir singing. Their traditional Christmas story involves Ded Moros (Grandfather Frost--like our Santa), the Snow Princess (his granddaughter), and the forest witch. Santa and his granddaughter come to welcome Winter, but the forest witch tries to keep it from coming. In the end, Grandfather Frost always wins out and winter arrives. The best part of it all is that we get to listen to Christmas music! We loved watching the First Presidency Christmas Devotional and being reminded of the importance of both graciously giving and receiving gifts at this time of year. We are grateful for their witness of Jesus Christ and our witness to theirs, that He lives!