HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELDER PETERSON!!!!
February 26 marks an important day in the life of Elder Peterson! He is another year younger! Yes, instead of having gone over the hill to the downside, he has rolled backwards and is increasingly more youthful every year. He even had just nine candles on his birthday cake which was kindly donated by a fellow missionary, Elder Bishop, who had received a "REAL" Pillsbury cake mix and canned frosting from home at Christmastime but did not have a functioning oven to bake it in. So we frosted it up with the pink strawberry frosting, used matches for candles, and sang a rousing happy birthday at our missionary district meeting. Indeed, it tasted pretty darn fabulous! On his actual birthday, he will be speaking in church and is feverishly memorizing some of his talk in Russian, which is a classic example of his obsessive nature to achieve great heights and continuously improve himself. He is an inspiration to all of us and helps us to achieve things in our own lives that we most likely would not have done otherwise. He is a caring and loving marriage companion and a supportive and fabulous missionary companion, as well. He provides acts of service every day like grocery shopping, drying dishes, and even visiting "babushkas." Even though he might have a few more gray hairs than he did last year:), he also has more patience, more strength, greater influence, and marches to a greater purpose every day. Happy birthday! I love you more!!!
February 15, 2012
We have had some fun experiences this week. I have mentioned before about Elder Peterson’s dislike of lifts (elevators). Well, for you Disney World fans, we rode the “Tower of Terror” lift! Normally, we would choose to climb stairs in apartment buildings to find the desired apartment, but in this particular building the stairs are outside and in subzero temperatures, that didn’t seem to be the best option. So we dared to take the lift. Fortunately, it was double the size of the typical lifts so four of us could fit comfortably. Just don’t look down because you can see ALL the way down to the bottom level in between the floor and the entrance of the lift. Once the door closes, the dim light within flickers and the elevator noisily creaks from level to level. You know you’d arrived at the level you chose when the internal light flashes and you hear some electrical “ZAP.” I was waiting for the free fall from 9 stories high…maybe next time!
We have been meeting with a woman in our city for a few weeks now. She has a strong religious background and enjoys discussing different religious topics. She has started to pray differently than she had before. Instead of reading prayers, she now says her own personal prayers and has found much strength in this more personal way of talking with God. This week we showed her the DVD, “The Restoration,” which describes the story of a 14-year old boy, Joseph Smith, who prays to ask God which church he should join in his community back in 1820. His answer came as a personal visitation from God and His Son in a grove of trees telling him to not join any of the churches and that God would prepare Joseph to restore His true church again on the earth. After viewing the film, Ludmila described the feeling she had when she watched the part of God appearing to Joseph as “a tingling…like ants crawling up and down her arms.” That was a cool way of describing how she was being told what she had seen was true. We have that same feeling EVERY time we hear this true story!
We had our first experience of being lost in Russia this week, too. We were traveling to one of the neighboring cities to help the sister missionaries teach a family we have met with several times. So we were even going somewhere we had been before only this time it was dark, snowy, and the inside of the bus windows were frozen so you’d have to scrape a little circle of ice in order to peer out the window to try and see where you were. The sisters told us which bus stop to get off on. In his superb Russian language, Elder Peterson asked a family to tell us when to get off which they did, but it didn’t look familiar. Before we got off, we asked the bus driver and he agreed that it was the correct stop; but we didn’t see the sisters who would be there waiting for us. We were already late because the traffic had caused several delays so we knew they were waiting. Well, if we didn’t get off there, we wouldn’t know where else to get off because the bus driver said that was it. So we got off and called the sisters…which didn’t help matters a whole lot because neither of them speak English. We couldn’t describe where we were – duh – there weren’t any stores or landmarks within sight. So we tried to talk someone into talking to the sisters on our cell phone so they could help determine where we were and where we needed to go to find them. Well, the first couple of people wouldn’t have anything to do with us. Finally, Ken was able to talk a man into talking on the phone. After speaking with the sisters, he tried to explain to us where to go but we weren’t getting it. So in frustration, he motioned for us to walk with him, and he took us to the next bus stop which was so kind of him. But it wasn’t the right one either. To make a long story even longer, he called the sisters again but it didn’t sound like they understood each other. We made the executive decision to go back to the original bus stop, cross the street, get on a bus, and return home. Needless to say, that night we spent three hours on a bus getting nowhere! And the sisters weren’t happy with us! Elder Peterson’s next language session focused on “getting lost tactics” and learning how to say, “I’m lost; please talk to my friend!” in a stern, convincing way.
We had a fun Valentine’s Family Home Evening with the Young Single Adults on Valentine’s evening. This is the group ages 17-30 who we meet with every other Tuesday night. We wanted things to look festive so we had been looking throughout the week at different stores for things we could use to decorate our apartment. Without any luck, we had to resort to the “big mall.” We did find the Russian version of Michael’s craft store, but there wasn’t a “valentine’s aisle.” We managed to find a package of heart-shaped balloons, a red accordion-style thingy to hang, and pink tinsel on clearance from Christmas. We made it work. We also bought some paper and heart-shaped confetti for them to make valentines with. We had 13 youth come which included three investigators so that was awesome! We’re going to need a bigger apartment! We shared a short message on Christ’s love, made valentines, played “mafia,” repaired hymnbooks, and ate heart-shaped sugar cookies that I even managed to frost with pink frosting colored with some strawberry-looking powdered drink (no such thing as food coloring that I could find) and the only sprinkles I could find were multi-colored. But, hey, they were sprinkles! We didn’t know what the youth would think about making valentines, but we were pleasantly surprised! They were really getting into it. What we thought would be a 5-minute activity at best turned out to be hard to get them to stop after 30 minutes. A couple of them were getting help from the other missionaries on how to write in English and then presented us with their valentines. We took pictures, developed them the next day and made posters to hang in each of the three church buildings to encourage them and others to keep coming. We will be going with them this weekend to Samara for an all-day activity with other youth in surrounding cities. Working with these quality people is definitely a highlight of our experience!
Along with valentine decorations, Elder Peterson bought his early birthday present at the mall. It will be a shock to many of you that we have been here two months without quality speakers!! I know—hard to imagine!! After all, we might as well be listening to MoTab and Especially For Youth soundtracks in high def! Life is good again! We have also found real doughnuts, lasagna noodles and worcestershire sauce. I guess we’re good to stay a couple more months!!
We have been meeting with a woman in our city for a few weeks now. She has a strong religious background and enjoys discussing different religious topics. She has started to pray differently than she had before. Instead of reading prayers, she now says her own personal prayers and has found much strength in this more personal way of talking with God. This week we showed her the DVD, “The Restoration,” which describes the story of a 14-year old boy, Joseph Smith, who prays to ask God which church he should join in his community back in 1820. His answer came as a personal visitation from God and His Son in a grove of trees telling him to not join any of the churches and that God would prepare Joseph to restore His true church again on the earth. After viewing the film, Ludmila described the feeling she had when she watched the part of God appearing to Joseph as “a tingling…like ants crawling up and down her arms.” That was a cool way of describing how she was being told what she had seen was true. We have that same feeling EVERY time we hear this true story!
We had our first experience of being lost in Russia this week, too. We were traveling to one of the neighboring cities to help the sister missionaries teach a family we have met with several times. So we were even going somewhere we had been before only this time it was dark, snowy, and the inside of the bus windows were frozen so you’d have to scrape a little circle of ice in order to peer out the window to try and see where you were. The sisters told us which bus stop to get off on. In his superb Russian language, Elder Peterson asked a family to tell us when to get off which they did, but it didn’t look familiar. Before we got off, we asked the bus driver and he agreed that it was the correct stop; but we didn’t see the sisters who would be there waiting for us. We were already late because the traffic had caused several delays so we knew they were waiting. Well, if we didn’t get off there, we wouldn’t know where else to get off because the bus driver said that was it. So we got off and called the sisters…which didn’t help matters a whole lot because neither of them speak English. We couldn’t describe where we were – duh – there weren’t any stores or landmarks within sight. So we tried to talk someone into talking to the sisters on our cell phone so they could help determine where we were and where we needed to go to find them. Well, the first couple of people wouldn’t have anything to do with us. Finally, Ken was able to talk a man into talking on the phone. After speaking with the sisters, he tried to explain to us where to go but we weren’t getting it. So in frustration, he motioned for us to walk with him, and he took us to the next bus stop which was so kind of him. But it wasn’t the right one either. To make a long story even longer, he called the sisters again but it didn’t sound like they understood each other. We made the executive decision to go back to the original bus stop, cross the street, get on a bus, and return home. Needless to say, that night we spent three hours on a bus getting nowhere! And the sisters weren’t happy with us! Elder Peterson’s next language session focused on “getting lost tactics” and learning how to say, “I’m lost; please talk to my friend!” in a stern, convincing way.
We had a fun Valentine’s Family Home Evening with the Young Single Adults on Valentine’s evening. This is the group ages 17-30 who we meet with every other Tuesday night. We wanted things to look festive so we had been looking throughout the week at different stores for things we could use to decorate our apartment. Without any luck, we had to resort to the “big mall.” We did find the Russian version of Michael’s craft store, but there wasn’t a “valentine’s aisle.” We managed to find a package of heart-shaped balloons, a red accordion-style thingy to hang, and pink tinsel on clearance from Christmas. We made it work. We also bought some paper and heart-shaped confetti for them to make valentines with. We had 13 youth come which included three investigators so that was awesome! We’re going to need a bigger apartment! We shared a short message on Christ’s love, made valentines, played “mafia,” repaired hymnbooks, and ate heart-shaped sugar cookies that I even managed to frost with pink frosting colored with some strawberry-looking powdered drink (no such thing as food coloring that I could find) and the only sprinkles I could find were multi-colored. But, hey, they were sprinkles! We didn’t know what the youth would think about making valentines, but we were pleasantly surprised! They were really getting into it. What we thought would be a 5-minute activity at best turned out to be hard to get them to stop after 30 minutes. A couple of them were getting help from the other missionaries on how to write in English and then presented us with their valentines. We took pictures, developed them the next day and made posters to hang in each of the three church buildings to encourage them and others to keep coming. We will be going with them this weekend to Samara for an all-day activity with other youth in surrounding cities. Working with these quality people is definitely a highlight of our experience!
Along with valentine decorations, Elder Peterson bought his early birthday present at the mall. It will be a shock to many of you that we have been here two months without quality speakers!! I know—hard to imagine!! After all, we might as well be listening to MoTab and Especially For Youth soundtracks in high def! Life is good again! We have also found real doughnuts, lasagna noodles and worcestershire sauce. I guess we’re good to stay a couple more months!!
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| The District |
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| David and Elder M |
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| Valentine FHE |
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| Susha and Julia |
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| Valentine FHE |
Feb. 5, 2012 from Stacy
We made it through January! February has made itself known with subzero temperatures. It has been twenty-below-something Celsius all week which converts to about ten to fifteen below Fahrenheit. But, have no fear, it will be warming up this week to -11C, or 14F. Life goes on as usual here; "It's Russia!" We had to take our gloves off for a brief moment this afternoon on our way home from church when we were stopped by the police officers for not crossing the street in a pedestrian zone and asked to see our documents. It didn't take long for our hands to go numb! The snow literally squeaks under our feet when we walk on it. I made the mistake of setting a spare bottle of cooking oil in the cabinet out in the enclosed balcony only to find it starting to freeze within a couple of days.
We had our third Young Single Adult Family Home Evening last week. We had eight attend including one investigator and two less active members. A recent convert shared his testimony and the blessings he has received from being baptized. He is a 25-year old single gentleman who recently finished chemotherapy treatments. He has a thirst for knowledge and does all he can to learn more about the church. It was good for everyone there to hear his journey in determining truth and being baptized. He has become a good friend, as well as a good example. He invited us to meet with his nonmember mom last week. There was such a good feeling while we were there, and we know some day she will want to know more about the church. There is a misconception amongst some Russians that the Mormon church is a cult and that we sacrifice children. There is a lot of propaganda on TV that really works against us. We ask them why they believe such a thing and they say "I don't know"? After a few questions many don't believe it any longer and it leaves doubts about the source who pushed the falsehoods. So it is good when people can see we are normal, loving people. We played a couple of fun games. You can see in the attached pictures the game where you had to work together as a team to get a "ball" (we used a rolled-up sock) to wind around a stick. It's funny to watch people maneuver their hips and make it work. We are hoping to have successful activities so that the kids will talk amongst themselves and encourage others to come.
We went with the full-time elders to a family's home for their Family Home Evening. The Branch President and his family were there too. They fixed us pizza which was so thoughtful. They made the crust themselves which was triple-deep bread and very delicious! Everyone shared their feelings on a particular topic. Elder Peterson shared a thought, and I testified, simply for the fact I lack vocabulary! It is so frustrating to not be able to express yourself and every time you open your mouth it sounds completely unintelligent! Generally people are very patient and encourage us to keep trying and not give up.
We love having the missionaries over every Friday for district meeting and lunch. They tell about who they are teaching and are able to help each other with different concerns. The two sister missionaries are from the Ukraine. It is fun to have fellow sisters to be with, Sister Ostopchuk and Sister Braginyets. Sister Braginyets speaks very little English and Sister Ostopchuk essentially speaks no English except for "sounds good." Miraculously, we are able to communicate spirit to spirit, as well as with the help of the dictionary. Sister Ostopchuk has been a member for ten years and is the only member in her family. They have such great spirits about them and strong testimonies, as do all the missionaries. I don't know what I will feed them when winter leaves. All I know how to do is big pots of soup, chili, etc, which are less desirable in the hot summer months. I found a store that sells french bread similar to American style bread. I increased the quantity from two loaves to three because they love it so much. We marvel at how much butter they spread on it but figure they need the layer of fat to help keep them warm on the street:)
Today in church was our "kick off" in presenting this year's vision of home teaching and visiting teaching. Currently, and for as long as I am aware, this hasn't been happening. This is such an essential way to watch over the members of the church and help them feel loved and needed. The District President feels strongly that if we can follow through with home and visiting teaching that the individual spirituality of the members will increase and that we will be able to rescue less active members. We are praying for a miracle; there is such a need for unity, respect, and love in this area.
As we were skyping with our daughter Kallie this week, she saw Elder Peterson doing his exercises in the background as we were signing off. He routinely marches around the apartment with flashcards in hand, studying his Russian words to the beat. Kallie sent a humorous note that her dad was taking this belonging to "God's Army" a little too far, and that he didn't need to be marching:) Even so, we feel blessed to be here and are hoping that what seem like insignificant offerings might in some way make a difference.
January 25, 2012 from Stacy
Another week in the life of Russia...
We attended a cultural event on Saturday night with all of the missionaries in the district as well as some branch members and investigators. It was a chorale concert in the Philharmonic Hall entitled "Ave Maria." We listened to 12 or so different renderings of Ave Maria, the melody we're most familiar with in both Schubert and Bach arrangements and several other renditions that were completely unfamiliar, quiet, and slow! The group of 6 men and 6 women also performed "The Prayer," and although it wasn't Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli, it was still pleasant to hear a more contemporary song with some English lyrics! One thing that was particularly interesting was that the audience applauds all together in rhythm at the end of each song like you would at a hoe down or something. Maybe that is common in many countries but the first time we had experienced it. Another interesting thing was that at the end of a soloist's performance, people would come up out of the audience to give them flowers instead of waiting until the end of the entire production like we are more accustomed to. One of our Russian friends told us that formerly choral performances were allowed but only singing, not any instrumental accompaniment. This performance had piano accompaniment, as well as taped music for a couple of the numbers.
We spent some time with President Zolotov and his family. They are so warm and welcoming of us. We had some things to discuss for an upcoming District meeting, so they invited us to their home to talk and cook Russian Borsch! This is the second time we have eaten in their home; the first time President cooked us Plov, a rice and chicken dish, and it was delicious. He also cooked the borsch with the help of Elder Peterson. Sister Zolotov and I looked at pictures of her trip to America to visit her sister who lives in Seattle. When we were called into the kitchen for soup, we sat and enjoyed a delicious meal. As soon as we were done with the Borsch, on came the next course of mashed potatoes, meatballs, and a cabbage salad very similar to coleslaw. I had no idea they were making all that food. They always serve from the stove, and I had to repeatedly ask for smaller portions. It was all very delicious; they just eat large portions, and I was completely satisfied after the soup! Sister Zolotov and their daughter Soosha speak English so they are very helpful to translate.
Yesterday was our first "solo" meetings without interpreters! That was interesting! We understand some of what people say, but we seem to be able to communicate somewhat between our limited Russian and their incredible patience. We show pictures of our family and they show us pictures of theirs. Ken is a good map reader and has been able to find our way around town. I don't have a clue so I just follow. Tonight we weren't so lucky with our meetings. We went to meet some missionaries in New City, and when we all showed up for our scheduled meeting, we discovered it was an Amway presentation--hilarious!! So we just left and went out on the street to find a bus to our next destination. However, the bus number we needed wasn't coming so after waiting for 15 minutes in -15C temperatures, we called it a night and came home. That's the first time we have been cold. Our toes were numb, our fingers were cold, and our noses were running! But at least we were able to get onto a warm bus to ride home, unlike the proselyting missionaries who would be out in it the rest of the night.
We splurged and went to McDonald's this week. We each had a burger, drink, and shared some fries for $13. Unfortunately, they don't have a value menu, but it was good for a change. McDonald's isn't our favorite anywhere, but, hey, it was American!
We had some interesting marshutka rides last week. Marshutkas are the 12-passenger vans that we use to transport from one city to another. The first one we got on, a gentleman asked us if we spoke English. It didn't take long to discover he was quite drunk. We tried to ignore him, but he kept tapping us and wanting to talk. He said he'd get off the bus with us and we could go together. We kept saying "NYET," but he persisted. When we got off the bus, we had to walk quickly to lose him. I don't think he would have hurt us or anything; it's just obviously better to avoid those kind of people. Later that day, we were on another marshutka with the elders in the city, and a rather loud and rude drunk passenger spoke very harshly at the one elder to tell him to be quiet and leave people alone. Elder Peterson was looking for something to use to knock the guy with just in case things got ugly, but they didn't. Then on the way home that night a bunch of drunk teenagers got on the bus. I don't know what was up with that day! We generally haven't had any problems with the people; we must have been abundantly lucky that day!
We have been in the mission field for one full cycle (6 weeks) already! It's hard to believe! We are definitely finding our way around on the busses and discovering where the cheaper places to buy certain things are. Our vocabulary is increasing somewhat, but we still don't understand much of what people are saying. We serve with 8 other missionaries in this geographical area of which four were transferred this week to different areas. So half of our district is new. We are looking forward to meeting and serving with these new missionaries. Both of the missionaries in our specific town are new and are already so helpful. They are proficient Russian speakers, one of them having his college degree in Russian and Eastern Europe Studies. They are helping us with the language which is so great. We also have a couple of Russian girls from the church who help us. They came over on Monday, and we learned words around the house. So now we have green post-it notes stuck all over the house to help us learn the words. We also Skype with our MTC tutors daily. Geez, you'd think we'd be starting to learn something!! We just need to be patient and continue to work harder than ever. The missionaries say it took them several months before they started to grasp the language and they have young minds! Us old fogies are going to take a long time!
The sun has been shining all week which is such a blessing with temperatures at -15C or -20C. It is starting to stay light longer, probably similar to where many of you are. It still doesn't get light in the morning until close to 9 though. On our walk to the store today we were noticing the two-foot ice layers that we're walking on. Some areas have been cleared, and so you can see how thick the ice is. I don't know if I'm looking forward to the thaw or not; it will be messy!
January 18, 2012 from Stacy
We have met with a couple of less-active members this last week who we enjoyed meeting. One sister, Anotina, is a seamstress and had repaired Elder Ross' suit pants so we went and picked them up. She loves to cook and talked to us about some wonderful Russian dishes she wants to prepare for us. We are hoping to go back next week and help with that. Her husband Uri was there, too. An interesting thing about him is that his voice sounds EXACTLY like Darth Vader, and he wasn't talking through a voice enhancer! I shared a spiritual thought and then Anotina offered the closing prayer. There was such a wonderful spirit in the room as she humbly bore a simple prayer. We would love to see her come back to church and hope that warmer days will help her weak knees be able to do so.
We also met with Ana and her family who live in Old City. Ana is Armenian. She is married to Karin; they have two children, a 12-year old boy and 8-year old girl. Ana has been a member for a couple of years but hasn't been to church for a while. She did come with her daughter this last Sunday so that was awesome. We had an instant connection with her and know we will grow to become good friends. Her first language is Armenian and that is what she speaks in her home. We have found the Armenian people to be so friendly, and she is no exception. Her husband has recently lost his job after 20 years so they are down on their luck right now. They graciously offered us herbal tea and fruit, a common custom here, which was very nice. This is the first family we have visited who live in a single dwelling. Karin expresses interest in the church but has for some time. Maybe his current situation will provide an opportunity to become more humble and want to make a change for himself and his family.
We had our second Family Home Evening with the Young Single Adults (YSA) last night. Our attendance doubled from the previous time (from 4 to 8) so that was great! We played a couple of games, one of the YSA prepared a spiritual thought, and we ate a disgusting cocoa fudge cake (all the recipes are trial and error here:)). Our goal is to have 15 YSA attending regularly by the end of the year. They enjoy being together and have said it would be better to meet every other week instead of once a month. So I will search for better treat recipes along with ones you can eat with your fingers! Every spoon and bowl in the house was used!
We had some additional guests for Family Home Evening last night, as well as for dinner. The Area doctor and his wife were in our area touring medical facilities. The zone leaders, who are assigned in our city, called and asked if this couple could come over and stay for FHE. A couple of their appointments had fallen through, and they didn't want to just go to their hotel for the rest of the day. Of course! Come on over! The elders didn't have time to wait for me to cook dinner (hmmm, what to fix at the last minute?) so we gave them a PB&J sandwich while throwing together pasta goulash for the rest of us. Not soon after, the doorbell rang, and it was the elders from our neighboring city and their investigator arriving for FHE--an hour early and just in time for dinner:)!! So two for dinner quickly turned into 7, and we experienced the miracle of the two loaves of bread and five fishes! We ate what there was with enough to spare (knowing that everyone would have eaten more if they weren't so polite). Sister Sartori, our Mission President's wife, mentioned to me when we arrived the principle of being flexible, and I'm learning to embrace that!
We have had quite a bit of snow in the last couple of days--6 to 7 inches, and it is still flurrying. We have seen many fender benders and cars being towed out of places here and there because they get stuck. This is the first substantial snowfall since we have been here which just adds to the piles. It doesn't melt so the piles that are here have just remained here from whenever they had snow last. I braved the storm to shop for an electric hand mixer, rubber spatula. whisk, fridge magnets, and wooden spoon. My exciting find was powdered sugar! It is not easily available in the stores! I have a member and her mom who speak English and are always so willing to help us. They take us on our shopping sprees because they know where to go to find things. It's not a one-stop shop here like WalMart!!! Actually, it's just business as usual here. Moms are out with their kids on sleds and babies in strollers. You don't wait for a nice day--they're all nice!!! I have become quite fascinated with the snow babushka in front of our building. From what I can tell, she chisels and shovels snow from about 5:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. every day. She has a hoe-sized tool that she uses to pound the ice which is a good 6 or seven inches deep. One day she cleared an area of about a 4-foot square. Today you can't even see where it was. She uses a common snow shovel just like the ones you have hanging in your garage to shovel snow from the street. If there's just a dusting of snow, she sweeps it with a broom. I don't know how she holds up day after day; my back aches just watching her! None of the sidewalks are shoveled or plowed. We wear our "Yak Traks" over our boots to help from slipping, but it can still be real slippery. Elder Peterson says I walk like a turtle, but I'm paranoid of falling and breaking something. So all of the snow has been nice because it has made it much easier to walk around.
Elder Peterson has been working diligently with the District President and his council here to put together their plan for the year which includes, in large part, strengthening the non-existent home and visiting teaching program in the three branches here. We are working towards and praying for a miracle. It is the hope that the members will "catch the vision" and that we will be able to rescue some less actives.
We are staying warm, fed, and happy! We appreciate the love, prayers, and support we feel from all of our family and friends at home! We really do feel it! We love you!
January 11, 2012 from Ken
Being in Russian is still a new experience. The sights, smells, language, culture is so different. I have traveled a good deal through my career but was not ready for this. Speaking the language where we are is a necessity. It is rare to find anybody who can speak any English. It stretches us daily and we are trying to get better. We keep our sense of humor and make daily mistakes. Yesterday my wife asked for milk (or so she thought). The person was confused because she was asking for “cat milk.” They didn’t know if you could get milk from a cat. Everyone around was laughing. We finally figured it out.
New years day after we had dinner with a family in Novie Gorod (New City) the father asked if I would pray to bring the new year in. I thought I was asking if he minded if I stood up to do this. Evidently I told everyone to stand up in what we call the “command form” of language. The all stood made a circle held hands and then I prayed. It actually worked out great. More unity and a great spirit. Of course, I sound like a three-year old speaking, but they don’t seem to care as long as we are trying.
It is dark until 10:00AM and then again at 4:30PM. This is taking some getting used to.
We have been busy helping with the local church branches (congregations) here. They have a District President over all three congregations and a Branch President over each separate city. I have been helping to set the vision for 2012 with goals and objectives for each city. We began presenting this to each branch yesterday. They are new at running a church organization, and I am helping with a good deal of training. The people here are doing a wonderful job!
The people are very converted to Jesus Christ. To give you an example, we have a blind man (captain in army who lost his sight in a bomb blast) who comes every week, studies his lesson, and provides service to our city. He is a real inspiration to me. He is humble and in many respects sees better than I do. Those who are teaching others are very young in the gospel. Last week I helped a recent convert of three months with his Sunday School lesson. He is teaching gospel doctrine to others who have been church members for several years. His testimony of Jesus Christ is growing, but as he prepares each lesson, he is introduced to several new concepts that he has to decide to accept before he can get up and share them as truth. He will be a future leader in the church here. We need more like him!
The fishing on the Volga River is very good. Daily I walk through town and look at the catches. All kinds of fish. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to eat fish due to the heavy metal content.
We are starting a young adult program and putting together activities for them. We have a student council of four right now but plan to grow that number to 15 by year’s end. We had our first activity last week at our home. It was a lot of fun. One of them speaks a little English; that helps significantly.
We love you!
Branch members and our English tutor on Saturday mornings
New years day after we had dinner with a family in Novie Gorod (New City) the father asked if I would pray to bring the new year in. I thought I was asking if he minded if I stood up to do this. Evidently I told everyone to stand up in what we call the “command form” of language. The all stood made a circle held hands and then I prayed. It actually worked out great. More unity and a great spirit. Of course, I sound like a three-year old speaking, but they don’t seem to care as long as we are trying.
It is dark until 10:00AM and then again at 4:30PM. This is taking some getting used to.
We have been busy helping with the local church branches (congregations) here. They have a District President over all three congregations and a Branch President over each separate city. I have been helping to set the vision for 2012 with goals and objectives for each city. We began presenting this to each branch yesterday. They are new at running a church organization, and I am helping with a good deal of training. The people here are doing a wonderful job!
The people are very converted to Jesus Christ. To give you an example, we have a blind man (captain in army who lost his sight in a bomb blast) who comes every week, studies his lesson, and provides service to our city. He is a real inspiration to me. He is humble and in many respects sees better than I do. Those who are teaching others are very young in the gospel. Last week I helped a recent convert of three months with his Sunday School lesson. He is teaching gospel doctrine to others who have been church members for several years. His testimony of Jesus Christ is growing, but as he prepares each lesson, he is introduced to several new concepts that he has to decide to accept before he can get up and share them as truth. He will be a future leader in the church here. We need more like him!
The fishing on the Volga River is very good. Daily I walk through town and look at the catches. All kinds of fish. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to eat fish due to the heavy metal content.
We are starting a young adult program and putting together activities for them. We have a student council of four right now but plan to grow that number to 15 by year’s end. We had our first activity last week at our home. It was a lot of fun. One of them speaks a little English; that helps significantly.
We love you!
New year’s feast with Brat Vageek and family. Armenian delight. Wonderful family who showed us such a good time.
P-Day hike into the forest
Oshpkov family from Stari Gorod (Old City)
January 1, 2012 from Stacy
Snowvem Godom (Happy New Year)!! We had a feast of feasts today at the Vagik’s. The “spread” looked like a feast for a king! The leg of pork was HUGE with the knife and fork protruding from the top of the roast. There was so much food, the plates were layered on top of each other. Olives, cheeses, salamis, caviar, fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, flat breads, rolled sausages of this and that and who knows what, pickles, peppers, sliced meats, mixed nuts, fruits, Armenian salad, assorted fruits both fresh and dried, Armenian cakes and sweetbreads…and we tasted it ALL; well, almost all of it. We couldn’t handle the caviar. I have never seen so much food in my entire life!!! We won’t have to eat for another week! We felt so appreciated and welcomed. They are so generous to include us in their family tradition. The elders in the branch were allowed to come with us to translate which was a treat for them, too. All of the elders and sisters were supposed to be in their apartments right after church for the rest of the day due to the holiday. One funny thing that happened is Brother Vagik asked Elder Peterson to pray at the end of the meal after we had been eating for literally two hours. Elder Peterson asked if he could stand to pray which was interpreted that everyone should stand for the prayer, and they did. The family’s friends who were also there drove us home. We managed to somehow communicate for the 20-minute drive home. That was a small miracle!
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