Reinforcements!!

Sound a cavalry charge! Nine new missionaries!! After watching so many of our Wonderful missionaries get released, it's a huge boost to have this contingent arrive early this morning from the MTC.

Welcome to:

[front row] Elders Gillming (Yuba City, CA), Cutler (Draper, UT), Sister Mezinets (Ukraine), Elder Steiner (Sandy); [back] Elders Stanley (N.Ogden,UT), Haag (Bountiful UT), Smith (Spokane, WA), Cooper (St. George, UT), and Heuer ( Highland, UT).








(Paperwork for 2nd passport; meeting companions/trainers)

Moroni

"I, Moroni . . . exhort you to come unto Christ. . . .
Yea, come unto Christ,and be perfected in him."

Everyone here has been celebrating the placement of the Angel Moroni statue on the Kiev Temple spire last week. It's all over FB.

Actually, Yekaterinburg may remain in the Helsinki Temple District, but the Kiev Temple is still a great blessing. For example, one member who is not permitted to leave Russia because of a debt, should be free to go to Ukraine.

One Week - Part 7

Sunday after Church Luda and Luba came home with us for dinner. Such wonderful ladies. Lubov taught English during Soviet times. When we asked how things had changed she said, "Everything is changed for the better." Because she's Jewish, she wasn't allowed to enter the university she wanted, despite her excellent grades.

One Week - Part 6

Accompanying the Elders to meetings with Valdimir and Tatiana is always a pleasure, in part because she's such a great cook. This week we had borscht, potato pie, and compote--a tasty drink from simmered berries or fruit.

She feeds the missionaries all the time. Vladimir, a boxing coach, asks thoughtful questions at the meetings.

Thanks to Elders Stewart and Anderson for taking us along and for translation.

One Week - Part 5

Our P-Day began at the "pochta." One can expect to take two or more hours to mail a package --by the time you wait in lines, fill out forms, wait for items to be inspected and individually weighed. We got through quickly, thanks to Elders Stewart and Rosel.

Afterward we wandered through a street fair where locals stocked up for winter. We bought great baked goods and encountered everything from a chance sighting of Governor Roesel to a demonstration of Russia's version of the "Ginzu" knife.

We finished up the afternoon checking in on the Elders' soccer game with new members and investigators.

One Week - Part 4

Culture Day at the Russian History Museum with the Zone made for a nice change of pace. The missionaries don't do this often.

Our hostess was Sister Karnivolova from the local Branch so it was fun for the missionaries to interact with her. Sister Read (San Diego) played the piano using a 100 year old music book; Elder Stewart (NJ) did magic tricks.

We especially like the cast-iron fireplace, made at Kasli. We finished up sitting at tables and learning Russian ettiquette.

One Week - Part 3

Zone Conference every transfer (six weeks) brings all the Yekat city Missionaries to the Office for meetings most of the day. They also pick up mail and supplies.

Here, Elder Sare (Rexburg ID) reads a letter at the mailroom door; Elders Brown, Sare, Anderson, Shreeve and Taylor help set up for the chicken and mashed potatoes that will make up Zone Conference lunch. Elder Anderson pours Kool-Aid, a precious commodity from home!

The Zone Leaders plan the menu and arrange the food, and we couples help where we can.

One Week - Part 2

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we take a bus to the City Center to go to English Club at "Rosie." The Church rents the third floor of a building for meetings, and members call it after the street name, "Rosie Luxembourg."

Because traffic was at a standstill, we got off the bus and started walking.




Here are some of the things we passed:
These fine old pre-Revolution buildings; a noisy firetruck; flowers in popular curving patterns at the foot of one of many statues.

One Week - Part I

Although we spend most of each day at our desks, we do get out and about, and these are some of the things we see.

We often pass these twins in the morning as we walk to the office. We say "priviet" and their mother whispers to them to say "bye bye" to us.

All season little babushka's and others set themselves up to sell things on busy sidewalks. Anyone can do it. Garden produce is big right now, including end of the season flowers. Mushrooms from the forest have been popular, too.

This tram track re-do may not seem like much, but they began pulling up track the first of the week, and the tram was running on new track by Saturday! (We ride this tram, and cross the tracks for groceries.)

Of course, we try to make contacts as we travel on the buses and interact with people, but those are not exactly Kodak moments. : )

Petergof and the Hermitage

Amazing. During our visa trip we had a long layover in St. Petersburg. Russia takes justifiable pride in these magnificent national spots. Thanks to Elder Sergeev and his friend Alexey for being our tour guides for two days!
Hermitage Museum
Petergof Palace and Grounds

Pouch update

The mail POUCH is still in business!
See our NOTE on July 2oth.

A Village

On Saturday Oleg and Vasilyna drove us to their family house in the village half an hour out of town where we helped harvest the potatoes. "This will be one of the last warm days," she told us. We were glad to work under cool gray skies.

Afterwards we ate watermelon, and then they put wood on the fire in the banya for us to use. SO relaxing.

Popular banyas (suanas) sometimes appear to be nicer than the house they come with. "It's the only way Russians had to clean themselves," one sister told us. Public bath house are also available.

It's understood that these older homes, although charming, lack conveniences such as indoor plumbing. In many cases, they'll have a well, with better drinking water than the city's. A few such homes get torn down and replaced by large, brick ones like the one you get a glimpse of to the left.

Beginnings

How can the Church be established out of nowhere in a new country? It's humbling to realize how it happens. Some Brethren are called to have "first contact." Here's a story from Elder Nelson from December 1991 Ensign, while he had a "first contact" assignment to Eastern European countries.

"Another [Russian] woman temporarily left Leningrad to find the Church in a miraculous manner. This beautiful young mother named Svetlana had importuned the Lord in prayer to make it possible for her to obtain a Bible written in the Russian language. Such a Bible is rare, precious, and very expensive. In the fall of 1989, she and her husband and their young child went to Helsinki in quest for a Bible. While walking through a park in Helsinki, she stepped upon an object hidden beneath the ground cover of autumn leaves. She picked it up and found it to be the answer to her prayers. It was a Bible written in the Russian language.

"So excited was she that she joyfully recounted the story of this great discovery to another mother who was also in the park with her youngster. The second mother then replied to Svetlana, “Would you like to have another book about Jesus Christ, also written in the Russian language?” Svetlana, of course, answered in the affirmative. The other mother then provided Svetlana with a Russian copy of the Book of Mormon and invited her to church. This other mother was Raija Kemppainen, wife of Jussi Kemppainen, then president of the Baltic District of the Finland Helsinki Mission. Shortly thereafter, Svetlana joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and returned with her family to Leningrad."
[Brother Kemppainen is the man we visited with in Helsinki, who we posted about below; Raija K. in photo]

Temples

Elder Neuenschwander tells about the influence of Temples in Eastern Europe. He writes:

"The most important advancement for the Church in Eastern Europe during these years was the dedication of a temple in the German Democratic Republic. By 1978, the government of the DDR had decided to no longer extend visas to Latter-day Saints seeking to attend the temple in Switzerland. The Church explored every option but could make no progress with the government. The members began to fast and pray for divine help.

"Then one day as Elder Thomas S. Monson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles met with government leaders, they proposed a simple solution: Why not build a temple here in the DDR? A parcel of land was purchased in Freiberg, and construction began in 1983. The temple was dedicated two years later, on 29 June 1985.

"Certainly, the influence of the temple seemed to permeate the German Democratic Republic, softening hearts and helping prepare the way for the dramatic changes that took place all over Eastern Europe at the end of the 1980s. The influence of the Church’s temples continues to be profound on all these nations."

(Frankfurt Temple above; Elder Bagmet checks up on Kiev Temple construction during his visa trip
home to Kiev, Ukraine, last week. We LOVE our Ukrainian Elders!)

St. Petersburg

Elder Alexandr Sergeev completed his mission a few weeks ago and has returned to his home in St. Petersburg. Here he is with his mission buddies who are coming through town en route to Finland for visa renewal. (Elders Isenbarger, Campbell, Dewey, Murphy and Dial.)

Finland--Seedbed for the Church

Meeting people at the temples has become a highlight of the Visa Trips. This time we met Jussi Kommpainen, a long time Finnish member of the church.

This faithful giant has served in a number of capacities, helping the missionary work spread from Finland into Russia and the rest of the Baltic region. He has served as a counselor in four mission presidencies. He assisted Gary Browning when President Browning become the first mission President called to lead a mission in Moscow in the early 1990's. He also served as a counselor to President Robert Blair, who opened the Baltic States mission. In addition, Jussi has had several supporting roles with the European East Area Presidencies in working through governmental and Church needs for new missions in this far away land.

We stayed up too late one evening visiting. He says that during WWII, when Finland was at war with Russia, D-Day saved them. Stalin stopped his attacks. "Finland was free. Finland remained free," he said. As a result, the Church had a place to lay ground work that would be the springboard into Russia.

(FYI, we love Bob and Julia Blair, parents of our son-in-law, Ben Blair). Speaking of the Blairs, in Helsinki we also saw wonderful Elder Tim Groberg, Julia's brother, who was with his wife Rhonda, serving his third mission to Finland.)
(Jussi Kommpainien in blue shirt.)