WEEK OF COLD WATER BUT WARM HEARTS

Yes, our hot water, as promised, was turned off Monday morning.  It has been quite an adventure trying to find things to eat that take little clean up....or at least not greasy clean up.  Showering hasn't been as bad as we had imagined as long as we run the water through the small water heater in our bathroom. The problem is that we can only turn the water on to a trickle for it to heat the water to barely lukewarm. Thus it takes us a long time to rinse off.  That's better then having to rinse off in totally cold water which is what most of the elders and sisters have to do when it's their turn to be without hot water. A couple of the senior couples we've talked to have an alternative water system, so they never have to experience the cold water weeks of Moscow. Lucky them.

In spite of the cold water, we have seen many expressions of warm hearts from missionaries, investigators and our Russian friends.  Let us explain.......

Our week began with a member discussion in our home, with Tuscan, on Monday evening. He is here from the Congo studying economics. He learned both Russian and English the first year he was here.  He was baptized about 18 months ago. We felt his 'warm' heart for the gospel when he accepted a challenge to give away a Book of Mormon to a friend.  He is really a sharp young man.

Sister King reading the poem and Sister Taylor with the

Santa bag and Christmas tree.

On Tuesday, the sisters held "Christmas in July" for the elders.  After lunch they sat everyone down for a 'warm-hearted' experience. The sister began by reciting a poem in the Night before Christmas format. After the poem, they produced a Santa bag full of wrapped gifts for each of the elders.  It seems the sisters had an apartment clean out P-day on Monday and found some priceless treasures in the bottom of their closets......hats, a turtle neck, a hood, a pair of gloves and some long, long, long socks.  We had a good laugh as each gift was unwrapped and modeled by the recipient.  We all laughed especially hard about the long socks which Elder Johnson wore during the rest of the meeting.  We have the best district....but it's transfers next week and we know we will lose a few.

Elder Welsh

Elder Beauchemin

Elder Johnson

Elder Jones

Elder Hoffman

Elder Knight

The fashion show

Later that day, we reunited with an investigator we hadn't seen for a few months. Neen is from Vietnam.  We were thrilled when the elders said he has a baptismal date for the end of July.  We first met Neen at English group and then he came to our home for a discussion. Tuesday we discussed the word of wisdom with him which he seemed to accept easily.

Wednesday, we were privileged to have a new member discussion with Justin. Michael came along and we had a discussion about the sacrament to answer a question Justin had raised in gospel princples class on Sunday. Both Justin and Michael expressed a 'warm' thank you for the talks we gave at the baptism. Justin referred to that day and our talks as something he would remember the rest of his life. 

Putting on the friendship bracelets

At the last minute, we got a call from the International sisters, King and Miller, to see if by chance we could squeeze in a discussion before we had to leave for English group. Of course, we said yes and were so glad we did. Their investigator, Chaddice, brought a friend, Sherman, along with her. They are from the same home town in Malaysia, and just happened to meet on the metro. Chaddice invited Sherman to come along with her to meet the sisters. He said he didn't know why he agreed to come but was so glad he did.  It seems he has been seeking a change in his life and wanting to find a church here in Moscow. He took home a Book of Mormon, accepted the challenge to read it, and committed to meet with the elders. He kept saying, over and over again, that this chance meeting must have been from a higher source.  He truly needs the gospel in his life. Chaddice has been meeting with the sisters long enough to develop a very 'warm' relationship with them. She was leaving the next evening for a month long trip. The sisters made friendship bracelets for all of them so, even apart, they would think about each other.  A few hugs and tears followed. There were many warm hearts felt on that day.

Thursday, was Institute and Gathering, as always....at least for the next three weeks. Our lesson compared the Zion people of Nephi (34 AD to 200 AD) to the Fallen people of Nephi (200 AD to 400 AD). We discussed what brought about the fall of so great a people and challenged them to become a Zion person by being true believers in Christ.  The warm heart was expressed after our gathering meeting. Victoria was the lead student in the English cohort.  She did an incredible job, complete with a demonstration to illustrate her gospel connection part of the lesson. When I complimented her on her obvious preparation and her great object lesson, she said it was all our fault.  She said that now, when she prepares any kind of a lesson, she thinks about our lessons and the preparation we go through and the visual aids we display. It causes her to feel compelled to prepare more and make her lessons more visual, hence the object lesson.  We were touched by her compliment.

Friday, Elder and Sister Hays invited us to go in a mission car to the Metro.  It is a Costco type store and is located far away from where either of us live. They wanted to stock up on cheeses and meats as they have a full size freezer in their apartment. (Their apartment used to be a mission home so it's very roomy....enough to house a dryer and a freezer...both of which most other senior couples don't have.)  We were glad we tagged along to the Metro as we found cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soups. That will save me some time not having to make it from scratch.  We found a pizza pan too...something we haven't been able to find anywhere else. Afterward, we went to lunch at a nice Italian restaurant in the Hays' neighborhood.

Loading all the groceries....mostly the Hays' purchases

Can't wait to use this soup....a rare find in Russia

The beautiful park

That evening we changed into something casual, jumped on the metro, and met the young singles at Ismylava park for a 'Cheese' party.  Everyone brought different kinds of cheeses and crackers and that's what they munched on all evening. Juices and fruits were there also and we brought some crunch topped brownies.  It was a great party.  After a spiritual thought and eating cheeses, they all played games and had a wonderful time.  Everyone stayed around until almost 10:00.....of course it is still very light at that time so no one was in a hurry to leave.  Whenever we are with our young singles we feel much 'warmth' coming from them to us.  We love being around them as they make us think we are young.

Listening to the spiritual thought which always happens before our activities begins

'Cutting the Cheese'

Playing a Ninja game

One of Evonne's booths....notice the Michigan shirt

and the BYU hat.  He obviously caters to Americans

and missionaries.

Saturday, the 5th, the Piersons and Hays met at our apartment to travel to the Ismylava market.  We were all looking for gifts to take home to families when we leave here. That is the best place to buy souveniers because they are much less expensive than in the shops in town. We found Evonne's shops. He speaks wonderful English and helped us know what to look for to make sure what we buy is authentic Russian. We will go to his shop in town or back to Ismylava to order what we want from him. 

Such a fun night!

That night we all met as a group of senior couples to celebrate the 4th on July, even though it was the 5th. We met in the Institute room, ate a pot luck dinner and then watched 'Yankee Doodle Dandy.' It is a black and white film with Jimmy Cagney and is over 2 hours long, but it left us with a great pride and a feeling of 'warmth' for our country and our soldiers. It was a special way to celebrate the 4th and also feel the 'warmth' of the friendships that we have developed as senior couples here in Moscow.

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting. Again it was a spiritual feast with many 'warm' testimonies being born. We were especially touched with Ollya's testimony. She is only 16 and was introduced to the gospel by her Dad, Andrey, who joined the church a few months before she did. She talked about how she has to travel 3 hours each way to get to church on Sunday. She said she wouldn't want to miss the 'warm feeling' she has when she is in church, so she makes the trip every week. Later in Relief Society, she and the Young Women's presidency gave a presentation on families. Ollya talked about the difference in her family since she and her dad have joined the church. She said they are holding family home evening every week and that her mom, who is not a member, even joins them. Their family has become so much more loving because of the gospel in their lives. Quite a testimony of the 'warmth' and love she feels in her heart for the gospel.

LIVING IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT

I read an article posted on Facebook by a former missionary, entitled '15 things Russians do that other people would find strange'.  The first one that we could relate to was that Russians never throw away bags of any kind. They say that you never know when you might need them.  We started saving plastic bags as soon as we came.....the reason, you never know when you might need them to line the garbage cans, or to carry groceries, or take out the trash.  We have our own stash, although we do throw away some.

This week I baked 5 dozen rolls for an open house for a Russian sister who was getting married. The senior sisters who planned this went to a lot of work making desserts, salads, casseroles and baking ham.  On the day of the open house, the bride and her mother dropped off a ton more food. The sisters couldn't understand why they had brought any food at all as the sisters thought they had planned carefully with the bride.  Needless to say, there was much food left over. It seems that Russians always prepare more food than necessary when friends come to dinner..... or so that's what this article said.  Maybe that was why the bride and her mother felt the extra food was necessary.

This week we noticed a welcome addition to the new little park on our walk to the metro.  When they built the park they put in a large circle with a light post in the center.  During the winter they had put colored bark in the circle which looked quite good.  This summer we thought, for sure, they would fill it with flowers several weeks ago when they planted all the planter boxes in the area.  But they didn't. Well, this week, it finally happened and  it looks beautiful....much better than the faded old bark.

AND THAT'S THE END OF OUR COLD,

BUT VERY WARM WEEK