2 - Through the metal door
3 - Entrance to our dome
4 - The garbage shoot
5 - The stairwell, Pedyez
WELCOME TO OUR DOME (no, it's not a typo)
1 - Metal door
2 - Through the metal door
3 - Entrance to our dome
4 - The garbage shoot
5 - The stairwell, Pedyez
2 - Through the metal door
3 - Entrance to our dome
4 - The garbage shoot
5 - The stairwell, Pedyez
April 23, 2012
We
had an enjoyable District Conference this weekend. The Kiev Temple
President and his wife came and spoke. They are from Sugar City, ID,
and have been mission president in Novisibirsk, a mission couple in
Ukraine, and now temple president. That’s a lot of time in Eastern
Europe. President Galbraith speaks Russian somewhat. He served his
first mission in France. He gave a Saturday morning youth fireside
which was so good. One of the things I appreciated him talking about
was the valiancy of premortal spirits who knew of their destiny to come
to Russia, a country that would have to wait for a long time to realize
religious freedom. More and more, I realize the incredible challenge
and miracle of these dedicated Saints to be members of the Church under
difficult circumstances. I feel so humbled to serve amongst them!
President Galbraith also talked about how our spirit combined with our
mortal body makes up who we are here on the earth. Many of our
decisions in life require our spirits to overcome our natural man
tendencies in order to retain the integrity of our moral values. It is a
daily battle.
We also had a great meeting with our
investigator, Svetlana. She is probably in her 40’s. She has met with
the missionaries since October, but they don’t meet with her anymore
because they don’t believe she is progressing. So we have stepped in
because we know she is developing a testimony and will be baptized some
day. She just has a hard time making decisions and isn’t ready to
commit to baptism. This week she bore her soul and told of her change
of heart since she has been praying, reading the Book of Mormon, and
attending church. Her relationship with her husband, friends, neighbors
have changed drastically. She explained how she used to wake up angry
and have no desire to accomplish anything. Now she wakes up happy,
works hard all day accomplishing what she wants to get done, has civil
discussions with her husband. We are so happy for her and will meet
with her again this next week. We have been able to develop a
relationship of trust and admiration and continue to pray she will have
the courage to get baptized. We told her we wanted to come to her
“dacha” to help her work. Many, many Russians have summer homes called
dachas that have been in the family for years. They are located out of
town where the Russians grow fruit trees, vegetables, plant flowers and
bushes, etc. The disadvantage is that many use it as an excuse for not
coming to church.
1 - Elder Peterson in our front yard
2 - Investigator Svetlana
3 - President and Sister Galbraith, Rada, Arsini
4 - Sister Peterson in our front yard
April 16, 2012
We had a good weekend watching conference with the elders at the District building on Saturday and Sunday. It was good to hear the talks again and gain more the second time around (we had watched the sessions earlier via internet). It was also fun to hear the accalades for missionary service amongst the "real thing" and give high fives to their good efforts. We watched the sessions in English in one room, and all of the members of the district were upstairs watching in Russian, of course. Onemember who speaks both Russian and English said he preferred listening in English because there was emotion! The Russian interpreter (and most Russians) speaks in an extremely monotone voice.
This week was also transfer week. We had changes in 3 out of the 4 companionships in our district. One of the elders "died"...went home to Kansas, literally! We cried. We get so attached to these missionaries. Must be the parental nature in us! The sister who transferred is from Ukraine and will be going home in July so we won't see her again any time soon. It is such a blessing to serve with these missionaries! We just love being amongst such stalwart young men and women who come from diverse backgrounds and upbringings. You form eternal relationships with people who you would not otherwise have an opportunity to meet.
I attended a Relief Society activity recently. It is the monthly meeting we have as sisters to learn and support one another. Here they call it “academia.” The Relief Society President shares a spiritual thought first. Last month one of the babushkas taught us how to crochet. This month we signed a message about the Resurrection and sent one to each less-active sister. Then we made a salad. Russian salads vary but usually have common ingredients of shredded beets, carrots, canned peas (no such thing as frozen peas), potato, onion, and a generous amount of mayonnaise to mix it all together. This salad had tuna in it, but I have seen chicken added, too. It was quite tasty! Once fresh vegetables come on, there will be a lot of cucumber and
tomato salads. Of course, we always complete the meal with tea and cookies! Next month our activity is at our house. They want to be able to use the kitchen to cook a traditional Russian pastry. Our little church building doesn’t have a kitchen. I don’t know how it will all work exactly because my kitchen is only big enough for a couple of people to fit into it, but they’re used to it and will know how to manage I’m sure.
We visited our 86-year old Svetlana this week. She is graciously helping us with our Russian. We read from the Book of Mormon together. She would stop and explain some of the words to us which was quite amazing. She would explain a word we didn’t know by somehow finding a way to help us understand—all in Russian! Most of the time we understood, and when we didn’t, we just pretended we did. We will return occasionally and have her help us. She brought a book to church one week for us to practice our cursive writing (a whole new way to write letters). We feel like it helps us and hopefully helps her, too, to have visitors.
We went to visit a member family for FHE Monday. They live in a village about 40 minutes outside of Toliatti. The cottages are divided by fences, oftentimes cobblestone fences and are very unique. This family's cottage is more like a cabin - logged with beautifully-finished wood floors, lantern-styled light fixtures. They have a large area of land with a water well, lots of fruit trees and garden areas, small pool. We ran out of time to take many pictures but are hoping to go back again. This family consists of the mom (her husband died in Jan last year), her daughter and her husband, and a 14-year old son. The grandma and grandpa live close by so they came over, too. The daughter served her mission in England 10 years ago and still speaks very good English so she helped translate when we needed it. They fed us borsch, pizza (delicious!), and banana chocolate torte (even more delicious!!). They are a strong family who adds so much to the branch.
I gave a presentation in District Council on Sunday about the power of music. I focused on using hymns to create emotions of spirituality and peace and to invite the Spirit into our church meetings. Russians love to sing the hymns and sing in every meeting and activity. I wanted to focus on using hymns effectively in Sacrament meeting; only one of the three branch presidents attended the meeting so I was speaking on deaf ears. Oh well. I will have to take a more active role in trying to put together special musical numbers in the branches.
We have District Conference this weekend, and the District President asked the branch presidents to notify every member in their branches which isn't happening. So we made flyers and went out as missionaries in each district last night to deliver to as many less-active members as we could. We helped the missionaries in Komsomolski who had prayed about which members we should visit. We were 6 for 6 which was a real answer to prayer! You have to get beyond a locked apartment building door, and every building we went to had either someone coming or going or was open so we were able to get in. And every person was home and was cordial. A couple of them even wanted us to stay; we'll have to return later. It helped that the District President's daughter who is in that branch was with us and most of the people know her. 6 members
isn't 60, but it's six more than would have known about the Conference otherwise and we have contacts who we can work with in the future.
1 - These are hard shoes to fill!
This week was also transfer week. We had changes in 3 out of the 4 companionships in our district. One of the elders "died"...went home to Kansas, literally! We cried. We get so attached to these missionaries. Must be the parental nature in us! The sister who transferred is from Ukraine and will be going home in July so we won't see her again any time soon. It is such a blessing to serve with these missionaries! We just love being amongst such stalwart young men and women who come from diverse backgrounds and upbringings. You form eternal relationships with people who you would not otherwise have an opportunity to meet.
I attended a Relief Society activity recently. It is the monthly meeting we have as sisters to learn and support one another. Here they call it “academia.” The Relief Society President shares a spiritual thought first. Last month one of the babushkas taught us how to crochet. This month we signed a message about the Resurrection and sent one to each less-active sister. Then we made a salad. Russian salads vary but usually have common ingredients of shredded beets, carrots, canned peas (no such thing as frozen peas), potato, onion, and a generous amount of mayonnaise to mix it all together. This salad had tuna in it, but I have seen chicken added, too. It was quite tasty! Once fresh vegetables come on, there will be a lot of cucumber and
tomato salads. Of course, we always complete the meal with tea and cookies! Next month our activity is at our house. They want to be able to use the kitchen to cook a traditional Russian pastry. Our little church building doesn’t have a kitchen. I don’t know how it will all work exactly because my kitchen is only big enough for a couple of people to fit into it, but they’re used to it and will know how to manage I’m sure.
We visited our 86-year old Svetlana this week. She is graciously helping us with our Russian. We read from the Book of Mormon together. She would stop and explain some of the words to us which was quite amazing. She would explain a word we didn’t know by somehow finding a way to help us understand—all in Russian! Most of the time we understood, and when we didn’t, we just pretended we did. We will return occasionally and have her help us. She brought a book to church one week for us to practice our cursive writing (a whole new way to write letters). We feel like it helps us and hopefully helps her, too, to have visitors.
We went to visit a member family for FHE Monday. They live in a village about 40 minutes outside of Toliatti. The cottages are divided by fences, oftentimes cobblestone fences and are very unique. This family's cottage is more like a cabin - logged with beautifully-finished wood floors, lantern-styled light fixtures. They have a large area of land with a water well, lots of fruit trees and garden areas, small pool. We ran out of time to take many pictures but are hoping to go back again. This family consists of the mom (her husband died in Jan last year), her daughter and her husband, and a 14-year old son. The grandma and grandpa live close by so they came over, too. The daughter served her mission in England 10 years ago and still speaks very good English so she helped translate when we needed it. They fed us borsch, pizza (delicious!), and banana chocolate torte (even more delicious!!). They are a strong family who adds so much to the branch.
I gave a presentation in District Council on Sunday about the power of music. I focused on using hymns to create emotions of spirituality and peace and to invite the Spirit into our church meetings. Russians love to sing the hymns and sing in every meeting and activity. I wanted to focus on using hymns effectively in Sacrament meeting; only one of the three branch presidents attended the meeting so I was speaking on deaf ears. Oh well. I will have to take a more active role in trying to put together special musical numbers in the branches.
We have District Conference this weekend, and the District President asked the branch presidents to notify every member in their branches which isn't happening. So we made flyers and went out as missionaries in each district last night to deliver to as many less-active members as we could. We helped the missionaries in Komsomolski who had prayed about which members we should visit. We were 6 for 6 which was a real answer to prayer! You have to get beyond a locked apartment building door, and every building we went to had either someone coming or going or was open so we were able to get in. And every person was home and was cordial. A couple of them even wanted us to stay; we'll have to return later. It helped that the District President's daughter who is in that branch was with us and most of the people know her. 6 members
isn't 60, but it's six more than would have known about the Conference otherwise and we have contacts who we can work with in the future.
1 - These are hard shoes to fill!
2 - A cultural event to an "exotic" fish display. Sisters Semyonova and Braginyets
3 - family we visited in the village: Babushka Vera and husband
Sasha, her daughter Galina, her granddaughter Oleca and husband Andre
4 - Zolotov girls
April 9, 2012 – “Toasty…”
...and I don’t just mean the weather. Although, spring has sprung, the world here is green,
and we can walk home at night in short sleeves comfortably! We are also the proud owners
of a brand new toaster!! Up until now, we have been toasting our toast in the oven, a tedious
process at best. Russian bread is good but very crumby so we would have to vacuum out the
oven every week. Elder Peterson prefers toast every morning so we are feeling much better
about this new member of the apartment!
We have ventured out beyond our comfort boundaries. We have a family who lives about 40
minutes outside of town from one of the branches we attend. They invited us to come and
visit them in their home so we got directions to go to the bus station in our city and look for
marshutka 392 to, what I thought they said was, Zabrejnee. No problem. So we get to the bus
station and ask the clerk for tickets to Zabrejnee.
“Zabrejnee?,” she asks. “Nyet, Zabrejnee. “ (no such thing, she laughs).
“Da!,” I emphatically emphasize. “Zabrejnee!!” (Russians often knowingly say they don’t
understand us when they really do).
She says, “Prebrejnee?”
“Mojet bweet,” (maybe) I reconsider.
Long story short, there isn’t a marshutka 392 that comes to the bus station and everyone
we ask gives us a different story of how to find it. So we decide to buy bus tickets to Samara
which passes by Prebrejnee, and the bus driver will drop us off on the highway. Just a side
note, whenever we would call and ask for help from the members, who thankfully speak a
little English, they didn’t know how to help us because they have a car and never use public
transportation. So when the bus driver drops us off on the highway, he points us in the
direction of Prebrejnee. We took pictures (see below) because we thought we had landed
somewhere in Mexico. We were standing by an old abandoned cement structure out in the
middle of nowhere that was full of empty bottles and food wrappers. Luckily, we only had to
wait for a few minutes for Brother Izmalkov to pick us up and take us to his home. Prebrejnee
is a small town of about 13,000 people. It appeared that many people live in single family
homes which is unusual for most other areas we’ve seen. The Izmalkov’s contracted for their
home to be built, and it is very nice. They even have their own private sauna built in the
backyard. They prepared a wonderful lunch for us, and then we were treated to a violin solo
by their ten-year old daughter, as well as a vocal solo she has mimicked in English…"near, far,
wherever you are”…I wish I had a video of it. It was sooo cute! They have two other daughters who are very well mannered and friendly. Brother and Sister Izmalkov have been members of
the church for about twelve years and are stalwart members of their branch.
Word got out that we had been out to visit the Izmalkov’s and so another family who lives in a
neighboring village wanted us to come out and see them, too. Not to disappoint, we made an
appointment to go for Family Home Evening on a Monday night. This family is the mom and
her 14-year old son, her daughter and husband, and her mom and stepdad who live nearby.
The daughter served a mission in England several years ago and still speaks very well so she had
a busy night serving the food and trying to do the translating. We speak in Russian as much
as we can, but it is never enough. This family has a beautiful log cabin on property down by
the Volga River. They pump water from their own well and have a huge garden of fruit trees,
vegetables and fruits. We had to run off in a hurry to catch the bus home (which we figured out
how to do this time) and so we didn’t get a chance to take pictures of their home so they gave
us some photos they already had printed. To look at their home, you’d think it was something
out of a fairy tale. We are hoping to go back again in the late summer, early fall, and will take
pictures then. It is humbling to see these two families who travel a great distance to attend
church.
5 - Komsomolski
6 - Bus stop in Prebrejnee
and we can walk home at night in short sleeves comfortably! We are also the proud owners
of a brand new toaster!! Up until now, we have been toasting our toast in the oven, a tedious
process at best. Russian bread is good but very crumby so we would have to vacuum out the
oven every week. Elder Peterson prefers toast every morning so we are feeling much better
about this new member of the apartment!
We have ventured out beyond our comfort boundaries. We have a family who lives about 40
minutes outside of town from one of the branches we attend. They invited us to come and
visit them in their home so we got directions to go to the bus station in our city and look for
marshutka 392 to, what I thought they said was, Zabrejnee. No problem. So we get to the bus
station and ask the clerk for tickets to Zabrejnee.
“Zabrejnee?,” she asks. “Nyet, Zabrejnee. “ (no such thing, she laughs).
“Da!,” I emphatically emphasize. “Zabrejnee!!” (Russians often knowingly say they don’t
understand us when they really do).
She says, “Prebrejnee?”
“Mojet bweet,” (maybe) I reconsider.
Long story short, there isn’t a marshutka 392 that comes to the bus station and everyone
we ask gives us a different story of how to find it. So we decide to buy bus tickets to Samara
which passes by Prebrejnee, and the bus driver will drop us off on the highway. Just a side
note, whenever we would call and ask for help from the members, who thankfully speak a
little English, they didn’t know how to help us because they have a car and never use public
transportation. So when the bus driver drops us off on the highway, he points us in the
direction of Prebrejnee. We took pictures (see below) because we thought we had landed
somewhere in Mexico. We were standing by an old abandoned cement structure out in the
middle of nowhere that was full of empty bottles and food wrappers. Luckily, we only had to
wait for a few minutes for Brother Izmalkov to pick us up and take us to his home. Prebrejnee
is a small town of about 13,000 people. It appeared that many people live in single family
homes which is unusual for most other areas we’ve seen. The Izmalkov’s contracted for their
home to be built, and it is very nice. They even have their own private sauna built in the
backyard. They prepared a wonderful lunch for us, and then we were treated to a violin solo
by their ten-year old daughter, as well as a vocal solo she has mimicked in English…"near, far,
wherever you are”…I wish I had a video of it. It was sooo cute! They have two other daughters who are very well mannered and friendly. Brother and Sister Izmalkov have been members of
the church for about twelve years and are stalwart members of their branch.
Word got out that we had been out to visit the Izmalkov’s and so another family who lives in a
neighboring village wanted us to come out and see them, too. Not to disappoint, we made an
appointment to go for Family Home Evening on a Monday night. This family is the mom and
her 14-year old son, her daughter and husband, and her mom and stepdad who live nearby.
The daughter served a mission in England several years ago and still speaks very well so she had
a busy night serving the food and trying to do the translating. We speak in Russian as much
as we can, but it is never enough. This family has a beautiful log cabin on property down by
the Volga River. They pump water from their own well and have a huge garden of fruit trees,
vegetables and fruits. We had to run off in a hurry to catch the bus home (which we figured out
how to do this time) and so we didn’t get a chance to take pictures of their home so they gave
us some photos they already had printed. To look at their home, you’d think it was something
out of a fairy tale. We are hoping to go back again in the late summer, early fall, and will take
pictures then. It is humbling to see these two families who travel a great distance to attend
church.
1 - On the way to Prebrejnee
2 - On the way to Prebrejnee
3 - Anastia Izmalkov
4 - Our awesome district/Malloy, Hughes, Glad, Ceimers, Wiseman, Hale, Semyonova, Braginyets5 - Komsomolski
6 - Bus stop in Prebrejnee
April 2, 2012 - The Thaw
We are coming out of winter and glad to be alive to welcome Spring. The melting layers of snow are uncovering treasures that have been buried for five months. The mounds of snow have been replaced with mounds of cigarette packs and butts, liquor bottles, bottle caps, candy wrappers, chip packages, bags, dog doodoo, etc. My winter boots have been replaced with rubber goulashes to maneuver the mess and puddles. Our city’s drainage system, if there is one, is less than operable so there is standing water everywhere. Is this really what we were waiting for all this time??:) The sun is up before 6 in the morning and sets past 7:30 in the evening on the days when we see it. That is a good thing.
We have enjoyed a terrific General Conference weekend! We are so grateful for the blessing to watch the sessions online, even if we were a little jealous to see flowers and “popcorn popping on the apricot trees!” We were able to watch Saturday morning’s session live on our Saturday night and the same for Sunday morning’s session on Sunday night. We watched Saturday afternoon session after church on Sunday, priesthood session in between there somewhere and Sunday afternoon session on Monday. We were tuned into the recurring theme of reactivating our members and can truly testify to the importance of growing our congregations by bringing them back. This is a major emphasis for our District this year, particularly through home and visiting teaching, and we know the Saints will be encouraged to realize they are following counsel of the prophets. The members of the church here will be watching Conference on April 14 and 15 since Easter is this Sunday and meetings will revolve around the theme of Christ’s resurrection. So we will watch Conference again in Russian unless we are able to download the sessions in English. During the prophet’s closing remarks, his expressions of love and appreciation for those in distant lands across the sea took on different meaning for us. President Monson really does love all of us no matter where we live. Living amongst such faithful, pioneer Saints, we know they appreciate his being mindful of them. We sure did!
We had another fun Family Home Evening with our Young Single Adult group. After our lesson, we played several “Minute-to-Win-It” games. Of course, this is a whole new concept here and, I might add, doesn’t have quite the same ring to it when you say it in Russian. The kids had a bunch of fun and maybe we’ll be able to challenge a group from another area some time. I’ll have to post the picture of them playing the game where you try to get a cookie from your forehead into your mouth—hilarious! We had three investigators attend, and they had a lot of fun, too. Youth their age don’t get together and have fun doing things like this. They mostly drink or hang out in the “bath house” (sauna). We have been impressed that most new people come and easily become engaged with everyone else. We just need to get them to come consistently!
Elder Peterson helped me orchestrate a large breakfast lunch for District Meeting last week. It was one of the elder’s birthday on Friday, and he really likes pancakes. We inherited a pancake griddle that cooks six pancakes at a time so we made pancakes, fried potatoes and fried eggs for ten people in my “shoe of a box” kitchen. We only have one pan capable of frying eggs and one pot big enough to hold enough potatoes for everyone. It was quite the ordeal but a big hit with the missionaries! They loved it! Thanks again to all of you who help this be possible for these wonderful missionaries!
Elder Peterson and I “worked in the trenches” Saturday. We went to New City on splits with the companionships there – Elder Peterson with the Elders and me with the Sisters. It is fun for me to have a set of sisters I can visit with and talk about what kind of hairspray to buy, swap recipes with, etc. Both sisters are native but one of them speaks English quite well so we are able to manage except for a word here and there when we have to reach for the dictionary. I literally experienced the walked and walked and walked and walked story! Bless their hearts, the sisters were unable to get any appointments at all so we contacted for two hours before dinner and 1 1/2 hours after. I got my work out that day!!! But the great thing about it was we found a family in the park who are now investigators! The sisters were so excited; this was the first time they have found an investigator from contacting on the streets. I'm hopeful this will be a positive experience for them. I enjoy when we go contacting with the missionaries for the fact that it helps me appreciate the courage, boldness, and persistence necessary to do such a hard thing. People on the streets are more often than not quite rude. They look straight ahead and completely ignore you or grunt some disinterested comment. People on buses or other public places stare at your badge like you're some crazy person. It really does take courage to stand up for truth and be not ashamed.
We are looking ahead to a busy month with General Conference, District Conference, and a special conference for all six Senior Couples serving in this mission along with the Mission President and his wife. We have yet to meet most of the couples so it will be fun to get together, become better acquainted, and share notes. We are still studying so hard to try and learn this language. Elder Peterson looks at our District President with tears in his eyes because he loves him so much and wants so desperately to communicate with him. We will enlist the prayers of the missionaries and branch members to help us better understand them. We can definitely see an improvement since we have been here, but we have such a long way to go. We can feel of your love and prayers, too, and appreciate all of your support and encouragement! This gospel is true, and we love sharing the good news with the people we are meeting here in Russia.
We have enjoyed a terrific General Conference weekend! We are so grateful for the blessing to watch the sessions online, even if we were a little jealous to see flowers and “popcorn popping on the apricot trees!” We were able to watch Saturday morning’s session live on our Saturday night and the same for Sunday morning’s session on Sunday night. We watched Saturday afternoon session after church on Sunday, priesthood session in between there somewhere and Sunday afternoon session on Monday. We were tuned into the recurring theme of reactivating our members and can truly testify to the importance of growing our congregations by bringing them back. This is a major emphasis for our District this year, particularly through home and visiting teaching, and we know the Saints will be encouraged to realize they are following counsel of the prophets. The members of the church here will be watching Conference on April 14 and 15 since Easter is this Sunday and meetings will revolve around the theme of Christ’s resurrection. So we will watch Conference again in Russian unless we are able to download the sessions in English. During the prophet’s closing remarks, his expressions of love and appreciation for those in distant lands across the sea took on different meaning for us. President Monson really does love all of us no matter where we live. Living amongst such faithful, pioneer Saints, we know they appreciate his being mindful of them. We sure did!
We had another fun Family Home Evening with our Young Single Adult group. After our lesson, we played several “Minute-to-Win-It” games. Of course, this is a whole new concept here and, I might add, doesn’t have quite the same ring to it when you say it in Russian. The kids had a bunch of fun and maybe we’ll be able to challenge a group from another area some time. I’ll have to post the picture of them playing the game where you try to get a cookie from your forehead into your mouth—hilarious! We had three investigators attend, and they had a lot of fun, too. Youth their age don’t get together and have fun doing things like this. They mostly drink or hang out in the “bath house” (sauna). We have been impressed that most new people come and easily become engaged with everyone else. We just need to get them to come consistently!
Elder Peterson helped me orchestrate a large breakfast lunch for District Meeting last week. It was one of the elder’s birthday on Friday, and he really likes pancakes. We inherited a pancake griddle that cooks six pancakes at a time so we made pancakes, fried potatoes and fried eggs for ten people in my “shoe of a box” kitchen. We only have one pan capable of frying eggs and one pot big enough to hold enough potatoes for everyone. It was quite the ordeal but a big hit with the missionaries! They loved it! Thanks again to all of you who help this be possible for these wonderful missionaries!
Elder Peterson and I “worked in the trenches” Saturday. We went to New City on splits with the companionships there – Elder Peterson with the Elders and me with the Sisters. It is fun for me to have a set of sisters I can visit with and talk about what kind of hairspray to buy, swap recipes with, etc. Both sisters are native but one of them speaks English quite well so we are able to manage except for a word here and there when we have to reach for the dictionary. I literally experienced the walked and walked and walked and walked story! Bless their hearts, the sisters were unable to get any appointments at all so we contacted for two hours before dinner and 1 1/2 hours after. I got my work out that day!!! But the great thing about it was we found a family in the park who are now investigators! The sisters were so excited; this was the first time they have found an investigator from contacting on the streets. I'm hopeful this will be a positive experience for them. I enjoy when we go contacting with the missionaries for the fact that it helps me appreciate the courage, boldness, and persistence necessary to do such a hard thing. People on the streets are more often than not quite rude. They look straight ahead and completely ignore you or grunt some disinterested comment. People on buses or other public places stare at your badge like you're some crazy person. It really does take courage to stand up for truth and be not ashamed.
We are looking ahead to a busy month with General Conference, District Conference, and a special conference for all six Senior Couples serving in this mission along with the Mission President and his wife. We have yet to meet most of the couples so it will be fun to get together, become better acquainted, and share notes. We are still studying so hard to try and learn this language. Elder Peterson looks at our District President with tears in his eyes because he loves him so much and wants so desperately to communicate with him. We will enlist the prayers of the missionaries and branch members to help us better understand them. We can definitely see an improvement since we have been here, but we have such a long way to go. We can feel of your love and prayers, too, and appreciate all of your support and encouragement! This gospel is true, and we love sharing the good news with the people we are meeting here in Russia.
March 31, 2012
1. Elders singing at Zone Conference March 9, 2012
2. Russian "Garbage Truck"
3. Wooden House
4. Sister Svetlana, Old City, March 2012
March 26, 2012
We have depleted our first tube of toothpaste, my hips are adjusting to the springs in the mattress, and Elder Peterson has found a Russian version of the Mounds candy bar. I guess we’re settling in! If only we could tell people where we need to go and what we have to say, we’d have it made!
We were able to participate in a mission highlight on Saturday. A sister was baptized in the New City Branch which was terrific. A lot of the branch members attended to support her, and we know she really appreciated it. It was interesting that people brought her chocolates and flowers, apparently a custom here. She bore her testimony the following day in Relief Society and expressed how she felt like people who were meeting her for the very first time at church were just like her sister. I love that the Church members allow that feeling of love and fellowship. She is a 23-year old woman, has a 3-year old son and has a wonderful spirit about her. You can see the peace and happiness she feels through her countenance.
After the baptism, we attended an Exotic Fish exhibit at our local museum as a district for our cultural event of the cycle. We all agreed it wasn’t worth the $5 admission price, but it was good to be together. An investigator came with us and three of the young single adults from New City. They like to be with the missionaries.
We have been given the assignment by Sister Sartori to do apartment checks for the 4 sets of missionaries in our district so we accomplished half of them this week. It motivates them to clean at least a little bit a few times a year! I’m tempted to take one of them on as a service project, however. It’s an apartment that has been in the district since the beginning, so probably close to 15 years. Elders leave things they no longer want or that no longer work, and there’s a lot of stuff that could be cleared out.
We were able to meet with the dad, Igor, and his son, Andre, who we met on the street last week. They came to our apartment and showed us their photo albums and also brought us a thoughtful gift of a book about the history of Toliatti, the area in which we live. That was such a thoughtful gesture from someone who we had just met days before and didn’t know hardly at all. This gentleman is very friendly, seems to be very proud of his family, and is open to making friends. Elder Ceimers and Elder Malloy were here too so they could help translate. Knowing that Igor has an interest in boxing, Elder Peterson put together a little slide show from pictures on the Internet about his uncle’s brother who was a world middleweight champion several years ago. Igor told us about surviving a car accident last year when his car went into the water, and he had to get out by himself. We asked him if we could pray before he left, and he was hesitant, but he allowed Elder Peterson to say a short prayer. We hope we will be able to see them again soon along with the mom.
We have been invited to Lingo Club, a community group of young adults who get together and learn English. The director is from Bulgaria and two of his assistants are from Germany. It is a chance to learn about the similarities and differences of each of these countries. The first time we attended, we talked about food. Last week we talked about education. I don’t know what they have cooked up for us this week, but we enjoy being with them and hope to have a positive influence that might result in an interest for someone to find out more about why we are really here in Russia.
We spoke in church on Sunday. Elder Peterson gave the majority of his talk in Russian, a result of many, many hours of marching around the apartment practicing sentences. I said about five sentences in Russian and relied on a translator for the rest. The church members are very patient with us and help us to speak correctly. It is challenging to simplify what we want to say and still say what we mean. We just pray for the spirit to do the teaching. Elder Hale sang, “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief.” He has a beautiful baritone voice, and it added such a great spirit to the meeting. Unless the missionaries provide a musical number in Sacrament Meeting, they don’t happen so it’s nice for a change. One of my goals is to be able to teach the primary children a song in Russian so they can sing in Sacrament meeting one week.
Our District President Zolotov, his family, and a couple of other branch members drove to Kiev, Ukraine, this week to attend the temple. They try to go twice a year. They drive in a small 5-passenger car (and 5 passengers is pushing it) and take two days to get to the temple. They spend all day, every day for four days in the temple as ordinance workers, as well as proxies. It is a highlight of their year! The Zolotov’s leave their two younger daughters at home with a grandma, and their 17-year old daughter goes with them to do baptisms. They had us over for dinner again this week. We absolutely LOVE spending time with them! They are truly becoming treasured friends. They are so dedicated to their callings, to the members here in Tolitatti, and to making a difference in the lives of others. When we visit other members and they show us their pictures, the Zolotovs are always in them and have had part in bringing many of the members here into the church. They have been members for 13 years. President Zolotov has been a branch president twice, the first time after only being a member for a year. Sister Zolotova is serving as the District Young Women’s President—for the fifth time!
It is snowing again today. The streets were starting to melt yesterday, turning into ice rinks last night so new snow will be good to soften things up again. We thought we had put away our fur hats for the season, but it looks like we might have a few more surprises ahead of us. It is actually a good thing because if all of this snow were to melt at once, it would be a real mess. As it is, the drainage in our town is undesirable and you have to strategically choose paths to get where you want to go when the snow is slushy and puddles are in the streets.
We were able to participate in a mission highlight on Saturday. A sister was baptized in the New City Branch which was terrific. A lot of the branch members attended to support her, and we know she really appreciated it. It was interesting that people brought her chocolates and flowers, apparently a custom here. She bore her testimony the following day in Relief Society and expressed how she felt like people who were meeting her for the very first time at church were just like her sister. I love that the Church members allow that feeling of love and fellowship. She is a 23-year old woman, has a 3-year old son and has a wonderful spirit about her. You can see the peace and happiness she feels through her countenance.
After the baptism, we attended an Exotic Fish exhibit at our local museum as a district for our cultural event of the cycle. We all agreed it wasn’t worth the $5 admission price, but it was good to be together. An investigator came with us and three of the young single adults from New City. They like to be with the missionaries.
We have been given the assignment by Sister Sartori to do apartment checks for the 4 sets of missionaries in our district so we accomplished half of them this week. It motivates them to clean at least a little bit a few times a year! I’m tempted to take one of them on as a service project, however. It’s an apartment that has been in the district since the beginning, so probably close to 15 years. Elders leave things they no longer want or that no longer work, and there’s a lot of stuff that could be cleared out.
We were able to meet with the dad, Igor, and his son, Andre, who we met on the street last week. They came to our apartment and showed us their photo albums and also brought us a thoughtful gift of a book about the history of Toliatti, the area in which we live. That was such a thoughtful gesture from someone who we had just met days before and didn’t know hardly at all. This gentleman is very friendly, seems to be very proud of his family, and is open to making friends. Elder Ceimers and Elder Malloy were here too so they could help translate. Knowing that Igor has an interest in boxing, Elder Peterson put together a little slide show from pictures on the Internet about his uncle’s brother who was a world middleweight champion several years ago. Igor told us about surviving a car accident last year when his car went into the water, and he had to get out by himself. We asked him if we could pray before he left, and he was hesitant, but he allowed Elder Peterson to say a short prayer. We hope we will be able to see them again soon along with the mom.
We have been invited to Lingo Club, a community group of young adults who get together and learn English. The director is from Bulgaria and two of his assistants are from Germany. It is a chance to learn about the similarities and differences of each of these countries. The first time we attended, we talked about food. Last week we talked about education. I don’t know what they have cooked up for us this week, but we enjoy being with them and hope to have a positive influence that might result in an interest for someone to find out more about why we are really here in Russia.
We spoke in church on Sunday. Elder Peterson gave the majority of his talk in Russian, a result of many, many hours of marching around the apartment practicing sentences. I said about five sentences in Russian and relied on a translator for the rest. The church members are very patient with us and help us to speak correctly. It is challenging to simplify what we want to say and still say what we mean. We just pray for the spirit to do the teaching. Elder Hale sang, “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief.” He has a beautiful baritone voice, and it added such a great spirit to the meeting. Unless the missionaries provide a musical number in Sacrament Meeting, they don’t happen so it’s nice for a change. One of my goals is to be able to teach the primary children a song in Russian so they can sing in Sacrament meeting one week.
Our District President Zolotov, his family, and a couple of other branch members drove to Kiev, Ukraine, this week to attend the temple. They try to go twice a year. They drive in a small 5-passenger car (and 5 passengers is pushing it) and take two days to get to the temple. They spend all day, every day for four days in the temple as ordinance workers, as well as proxies. It is a highlight of their year! The Zolotov’s leave their two younger daughters at home with a grandma, and their 17-year old daughter goes with them to do baptisms. They had us over for dinner again this week. We absolutely LOVE spending time with them! They are truly becoming treasured friends. They are so dedicated to their callings, to the members here in Tolitatti, and to making a difference in the lives of others. When we visit other members and they show us their pictures, the Zolotovs are always in them and have had part in bringing many of the members here into the church. They have been members for 13 years. President Zolotov has been a branch president twice, the first time after only being a member for a year. Sister Zolotova is serving as the District Young Women’s President—for the fifth time!
It is snowing again today. The streets were starting to melt yesterday, turning into ice rinks last night so new snow will be good to soften things up again. We thought we had put away our fur hats for the season, but it looks like we might have a few more surprises ahead of us. It is actually a good thing because if all of this snow were to melt at once, it would be a real mess. As it is, the drainage in our town is undesirable and you have to strategically choose paths to get where you want to go when the snow is slushy and puddles are in the streets.
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