We had District Conference this weekend which meant our mission president and his wife were here, along with a visiting area authority, Elder Gushin. I thought I'd just share a couple of things they talked about that stood out to me. First, President Sartori asked us, "Where is Zion? Salt Lake City? Missouri? Russia?" Zion is in each of our hearts. In order to build "Zion," we each need to strengthen ourselves. This is so important because regardless of how many church members are in a particular location, if the members themselves do not have testimonies or are not committed to serving the Lord, Zion cannot flourish. The Russian Saints are wanting so badly to have stakes of "Zion," but they first need to strengthen their own testimonies and commitments before reaching towards other goals. This is applicable to all of us, no matter where we live.
President Sartori also pleaded for members to help in missionary work. Within our mission, only 2-3% of people who are taught from missionaries contacting them on the street are baptized. 20-30% of member referrals are baptized. Our district of three prior and now two branches, has only had one baptism in the last year. The church wants to send eight more missionaries to the mission and President is wondering what areas to place them in and keep them busy. The area presidency has not approved opening any new cities yet, so the missionaries would need to be put in existing branches that already have at least two sets of missionaries. Bottom line, they need people to teach and are working so hard to make that happen. Member support is critical to furthering the work.
Elder Gushin is from Novosibirsk. He actually knows Elder Ririe, a missionary from our ward, as well as Sister Cropper, our MTC Russian tutor. They have both served missions in Novosibirsk. He had many stories to tell about his conversion and his family's experiences. He told the story of him and his wife being stopped by sister missionaries on a bitter cold day back in 1996 (can't remember the exact year for sure). Back in that time, he said the missionaries were allowed to stay inside if the temperatures were too cold. But on this day, these sister missionaries felt like they needed to be out on the street. Elder Gushin and his wife were the only people who stopped and talked to them that day. Elder Gushin said he will be "infinitely" grateful for them and that they listened to the spirit that day.
He also explained that the apartment in which they live is the same apartment his wife grew up in and the building hasn't had any new neighbors move in or out in many years. Finally, they had some new neighbors move in and so they went to introduce themselves. Over the next few months they became friends. After some time, the neighbor mentioned to Elder Gushin that he noticed their family leaving the building every Sunday morning very clean and dressed up. He couldn't imagine where they would be going at such an early time in the morning. Surely there weren't any theater productions at that time of day! Elder Gushin explained that they were going to church. He gave his neighbor a Liahona to read, and they have had more opportunities to talk about the gospel since then. This story illustrates the power of example! I remember when Elder Peterson and I were living in Oceanside and Rachael and her family came to visit on the weekend. We all went to church on Sunday, and our neighbor who we had become acquainted with made a comment the next time we saw her that she saw all of us dressed up and going to church. It really touched her to see a family attend church together. She asked what church we went to and we were able to talk with her about it. I love the thought that such a simple thing to us is a huge example to others.
The last thought I have is what Elder Gushin said about taking offense, which is a huge problem here. He said that if someone does something to offend you, write down the offense on a piece of paper. In time the paper will fade, be torn, or even thrown away. If someone does something nice to you, write it on something sturdy that will last forever like a stone. Basically, forget about the negative and focus on the positive. Such a good lesson...
Then, finally, I loved the song we listened to on "Music and the Spoken Word" last night: "If you're worried and you can't sleep, then count your blessings instead of sheep and you'll fall asleep counting your blessings." We have so many blessings, too many to even count. We are so thankful to all of you, our family and friends, for your love and support. We're thankful for a loving God who knows, loves and blesses each one of us. We are thankful for missionaries. We are thankful for the good news of the gospel and know it is true! We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving week!
1 - Elder Malloy and Elder Gushin
2 - Elder Gushin and Brother Vagik
3 - Elder Gushin and Elder Bullough
4 - Alona, Yalena, Klimov's, Oshepkov's
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