ONE BAPTISM, TWO SCARES, THREE APARTMENT CHECKS AND FIVE HATS

Whenever we have a baptism in our district, it is the highlight of the week. Saturday we attended the baptism of Dema, an investigator of Elder Jewkes and Elder Friar. He was one of those golden contacts....the second in a row for Elder Jewkes, Andre being the first. We recently heard Dema's story. Two weeks before the missionaries contacted Dema on the street, a woman had collapsed right in front of him. He administrated mouth to mouth and saved her life. After having several lessons with the missionaries, Dema was sure that the Lord had put the missionaries in his path as a reward for what he had done for the woman. He saved a woman physically and the Lord allowed the missionaries to bring him a message that would save him spiritually. Surely a miracle from the Lord. His baptism was a beautiful service with many in attendance to celebrate with him.

Here, Dema is looking like a long time
 member of the church in his new suit.
He had been wearing his every day
clothes to church.   In an interview,
 the bishop asked him if he would consider
 wearing a suit and tie and so this
is how he showed up to his baptism.

We feel the missionary work here in the Russia Moscow mission is really beginning to blossom. As of the end of January, we have had 10 baptisms compared to zero at the same time last year. The mission's goal is 130 baptisms this year so the missionaries are putting on a real push to bring the joy of the gospel to those they meet. They have committed to be 100% obedience and many have begun to make sacrifices (such as the sweet sacrifice at Christmas time) to invoke the blessings of heaven to help them find those golden contacts. They are involving the members of the wards and branches more by increasing their member present discussions with investigators. We feel the Lord's spirit is hovering over this choice land and that someday, in the near future, it will be like South America in terms of the growth of the church. The saints here are so strong and are wonderful examples through whom the investigators can see the joy, peace and strength the gospel can bring into their lives. We are so grateful to be a small part of this marvelous work.  Missions are the greatest.

After the baptism we served refreshments, as we always do.  We brought a large pan of a three layered brownie (40 pieces) and some lemon bread (20 slices).  It was all gone quite quickly. Many in attendance came up to tell me how delicious they thought the brownies were but the Bishop's comment was priceless.  After complimenting me on the brownies he quietly added, "Could you teach my wife how to make them?"  Of course I agreed to provide a recipe.

A rather funny note:  As we left the baptism, Elder Jewkes noticed that Paul did not have a coat on.  It has been above freezing for the last couple of days so Paul thinks it's too warm for a coat over his suit jacket. Elder Jewkes commented about his not wearing a coat and predicted that Paul would get yelled at by somone. Sure enough, as we walked to the metro, a man we didn't know looked at Paul, started pointing his finger, and yelling at him. We couldn't understand what he was saying, but It was probably about Paul not wearing a coat. The Russian people are strangely superstitious about the cold and the need to stay warm.   

Elder Friar in the middle excitingly displaying the

plate of cookies we brought for them to eat.

Now for the apartment checks and the hats......This week was our week to begin the quarterly checks of the apartments of our sisters and elders. On Wednesday, we headed up toward the mission office to check the office elder's apartment as well as the AP's apartment. We had not checked these two apartments before as we had been told the office couple was checking them. We found out recently that they had not been doing them so we agreed to add them to our list of apartments to check. At the AP's apartment we noticed three Russian hats on a night stand. Of course, we had to have them modeled. To think, people actually wear these to keep their heads warm....amazing. 

Elder Davis is in the t-shirt because he had washed his

white shirts and they weren't dry yet.

Friday brought the next apartment check and two more hats. Elder Davis, who goes home in three weeks, will be taking these hats home. He received the mask as a white elephant gift at the mission Christmas party and the other hat he bought as a souvenir. Of course, we needed pictures. Elder Davis also had a set of three of Russian nesting dolls to take home with him.  These are unique as they depict each of the presidents of the church since Joseph Smith. They are available from a local artist who paints them for anyone who will pay 1600 rubles, about $50.00. I think that will be something we will have to bring home.

The prophet 'matryoshka' dolls - Inside each of these

are smaller dolls with the faces of the other presidents 

of the church painted on them.

This calendar is in Russian, of course, 

 We hope we can find one of these in English.

The English ones were handed out in the 

international ward.

Now back to the beginning of the week. On Sunday, we were so impressed with the goals the bishop set out for the ward.  Three of the five are related to missionary work. The goals are 1) to work with the missionaries in gathering Israel, 2) to maintain interest in recent converts, 3) to return to activity the less active members, 4) to increase attendance at sacrament meetings, and 5) to increase the number of temple recommend holders in the ward. A well designed card with these goals printed on it was handed out for each household to put in their homes.  Impressive. Then at our joint Priesthood/Relief Society meeting the new push for family home evening being held in each home was presented.  A calendar was likewise given to each household to hang in their homes, which included suggested topics for weekly family home evening discussions.  
Again, very impressive.

Monday was a day of shopping and studying and our first scare.  We decided to take a walk to check out a grocery store we had passed a few weeks ago. We were disappointed in the store as the prices were higher than our little local store and it didn't have the items we were looking for, like any Mexican foods. As we were walking home, we about had heart attacks.  We were just walking along and a policeman called out to us and put his hand out to stop us. Our hearts started pounding and we immediately had visions of having to show all our paper work and/or being hauled off to a police station. In reality, all the policeman was doing was stopping us from crossing a driveway into which a truck was turning. After the truck successfully completed the turn and was in the driveway, we were allowed to continue our walk. We were so relieved.

An enchilada and taco on the plates and

a nacho in the center of the table.

Tuesday was district meeting.  We only had two companionships as the others were involved in a zone conference. When we have only 6 of us, we can sit around the table which was a good thing for what we served. We had finally found more corn/wheat tortillas at a grocery store so we decided to treat the district to tacos and enchiladas.  They were thrilled. Dessert, a lemon cream pie, was served after the meeting as everyone was too full to eat it right after lunch. The rest of the day was spent studying for our Institute lesson and our seminary lesson for Isaac. Later that night cookies were baked to take to the elders and sisters when we check their apartments.

Besides apartment checks, Wednesday brought a missionary discussion with another Dema at our apartment. He has a baptismal date of March 1st. He was very receptive to the Restoration video and asked some good questions.  He also attended the baptism for the other Dema on Saturday. A good indication that he is very serious about his commitment to be baptized.  

At English group that night we were in charge of the vocabulary words and the activity. We played sentence basketball.  Everyone was given several slips of paper and a pencil. The elders and sisters read sentences, using the vocabulary words, to their groups. The people were to write the sentences on a paper, wad it up, and make a basket with it by tossing it into a waste paper basket. Everyone seemed to have a good time.  Wednesday we also began a 24 hour fast. Our newly created zone decided to fast for the month of February.  One companionship is fasting each day of the month.  The purpose - to be able to meet the goals of member present discussions and baptismal dates.  Our first day to fast started at 6 pm on Wednesday and went till 6 pm on Thursday.

Thursday was a crazy day - lesson prep, a senior council Valentine party, and our Institute/Pathway Gathering.  We were teaching the Isaiah chapters of the Book of Mormon and so the study for the week has been rather intense. We were thrilled with how our lesson was received. We felt the students went away with a greater insight in understanding the words Isaiah.  We sure gained a lot in our preparation.

Paul telling his lie about how we met.

The Valentine party at senior council was a fun and a welcomed change from the speakers we usually have each Thursday. We all were asked to bring appetizers and to come prepared to share our stories of how we met, dated and got engaged.  Paul and I were asked not to tell the truth but to make up a believable story. I made the appetizers (a fruit pizza and a vegetable pizza) and Paul made up the story. It was fun to try and guess who was lying and who was telling the truth. Paul convinced all but about 5 that he was telling the truth.  

Friday brought the apartment check, lunch at Burger King (our big Valentine day celebration), game night at the institute room and a second scare. The scare came when we got home from Burger King. Paul went to get something out of his wallet and couldn't find it. For a while, we thought he had been pick pocketed on the metro and we were feeling really sick about it.  After looking in all the pockets of his coat and pants, he opened the drawer in his office and found it.  It seems he had laid it on his desk when he first got home and it had fallen into the drawer.  We were so relieved.

The Seaside puzzle completed.  It was over half done

by the time we got to game night so we think we will

set it up at home and do it all by ourselves.  It is a fun one

to do because of all the interesting details.

At game night there were 2 investigators.  We are so thrilled that our missionaries feel good about bringing their investigators to be with the young singles on game nights. Our young singles are usually really good at including them into their games. We think the missionaries love to come too. As soon as our new YSA council is up and planning again, our goal is to make sure all the missionaries here in Moscow have a monthly schedule of all YSA events. These activities can be a great missionary tool.

LIVING IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT

As we have mentioned often, we are so impressed with the members of the church here in Moscow.  We will spotlight three of the reasons:

1.  No matter the activity, there is always a well prepared spiritual thought presented before any of the fun and games begin.

2.  If any kind of food is involved in an activity, no one will eat it until it has been blessed. We have even seen them say a second prayer once they realized a treat for after Institute hadn't been blessed in the closing prayer. During institute this week one of the senior couples brought up a small plate of leftover appetizers (cheese and olives on a toothpick). We told the students they were free to eat them. Of course, a blessing on these tiny leftovers was included in the closing prayer.

3.  At testimony meeting we have yet to see a pause in the bearing of testimonies. As soon as one person finishes a testimony and says amen, someone else is right there ready to bear testimony. We see these people eager to share with everyone their feelings about the gospel and the blessings it brings into their lives.

JUST SOME OF THE REASONS WE LOVE THESE WONDERFUL PEOPLE AND 

LOVE SERVING OUR MISSION HERE IN RUSSIA