OCTOBER GENERAL CONFERENCE BRINGS JOY TO OUR MISSION

In Russia, we are one week later than the United States in enjoying General Conference. It is available on line almost immediately after it is broadcast, but it takes a week for it to be translated into Russian so the words of the prophets can be understood by the people here. Paul downloads each session, including the Priesthood and Women's Conference.  He then sets up each session to be played in English in our institute room. This is done for the missionaries here in Moscow and anyone else who wants to listen to it in English. Most of the senior couples watch it in the comfort of their living rooms throughout the week, but we wait to watch it, for the first time, with the younger missionaries. It is a spiritual treat for all of us and adds much joy to our lives. We are always sad when the last talk is given and President Monson closes the conference for six months. General Conference is always a rejuvinating force in the spiritual lives of our missionaries and ourselves....and this October Conference was no exception. To listen to today's apostles and prophets speak to us is such a blessing in our lives. We always come away from conference weekends committed to be better followers of Jesus Christ.

Misha, our director, translating for

Brother Webb, on the right

Conference pretty much took up our weekend. Sunday night after the last session, we met as a young single adult council. We had a special guest with us from Salt Lake City.  Brother Webb, head of the CES department for the church, was here on his way to a CES director's convention in Turkey. He wanted to see a YSA council in action before he spoke in a fireside that followed the planning meeting.  He added much, in way of council, to our committee and the fireside was very inspiring. He is a marvelous teacher with an incredible command of the scriptures at his fingertips.  We especially loved the fact that he spoke in English as we could understand what he said. Of course, what he said was translated into Russian for the young singles in attendance. 




Our Sabbath day was full, as we left the house at 10:30 and didn't return until after 8:00. Our Sunday dinner consisted of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some potato chips. A far cry from pot roast, but it filled our hungry stomachs as we ate it before our YSA council meeting began. Note: I gave one of our young singles, Masha, half of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  She ate every last morsel and declared she was in heaven as it tasted so good.

Elder St. Clair, our new district leader, with

his arm around his new companion, Elder

Kirdyapkin, a native Russian

Tuesday was the day we met the new missionaries in our district. Elder St.Clair is our new district leader who has only been in the field for 12 weeks, 2 transfers. He has just finished his training and is now the district leader so he has to be pretty sharp. He was a convert of only a year before leaving on his mission and has a powerful testimony to bear. We are so impressed at his leadership.  He is the first district leader who has actually called us on a Sunday night to report how each companionship has done with their weekly goals. That's not required but he wants us to feel a part of the district.  He even gave us the names of 5 investigators for whom to specifically pray. We loved his including us in that way. This new district will do wonderful things under his leadership.

Sister Downing, on the right, is a new

sister trainer sister with our 

Sister Shepherd.

Elder Calderwood, on the right, joins Elder

Eliason as a new AP.  He will be an

incredible assistant to the President.

Tuesday night, we went out to dinner with Elder and Sister Hays. They eat out a lot and wanted us to try a Georgian restaurant which they had recently found.  They raved about the cheesy bread and the kebabs.  We tried them both and were impressed. It was very good food.

Wednesday, we had two discussions in our home, one on skype and one with Bazeel. He had been in our home one other time a few months ago. Hopefully it won't be months before we see him again. After the last discussion, we quickly jumped on the metro to go to an office supply store for colored paper. If the truth were known, though, we used that as excuse to get a Teriyaki twister from the KFC that is close to the office supply store. They are becoming our new favorite fast food item.

That night was our English group. Last week, we reported that it was a very difficult evening. This week was much better. We were responsible for the discussion part of the evening about the Gospel of Jesus Christ being revealed to us today. Paul did a marvelous job of controlling the questions asked and the direction of the discussion about prophets. After a few minutes we broke into smaller groups for some specific questions related to the topic in which the participant could practice speaking English. Being in smaller groups seemed to work well. After this, we showed a powerful video of Elder Holland testifying about prophets today. It was a good evening.

At our senior council, Thursday, each couple selected a favorite conference talk to share. It was a nice way to hear from each of us and feel of the special messages of the prophets. At Institute, we taught section 20 about the organization of the church on April 6, 1830. We rehearsed the events of that day, talking about the sacrament, baptism, confirmation, and ordination along the way. We were so grateful to see our special friend, Lada, in attendance. She has been quite sick since graduating from the Pathway program and staying with her mom in Ryazan. It was so good to see her again.

We love Lada!!!!

I was grateful Lada was well enough to come to our home on Friday to visit. Paul ran some errands for a couple of hours so Lada and I could have some time for girl talk. She has been through a terrible ordeal with her health and recently had an operation. The operation was successful so hopefully she will be able to return to full health, find a job, and start living a normal life again. She has been, and will continue to be, in our prayers. Before Paul returned home, I made the two of us a chicken fajita lunch. Lada had never tasted Mexican food before. I made sure it was not too spicy and she loved it. In fact, she had two fajitas. We had a great visit. She'll be staying in Moscow for the next few weeks trying to find a job, so hopefully we will see a lot of her before we leave for home.

It was game night that night and then our weekend of spiritual uplift started, on Saturday, as we watched general conference. A wonderful way to bring our week to a close. 

Two young singles who dropped by game night just as we were

getting ready to leave.  No one had come by 8:30 so we set up

the chairs for conference and were walking out the door when

Kristen and Cassandra walked in.  They are both from America

and are working here. Cassandra served her mission in Moscow.

LIVING IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT

Guess what's coming to Moscow?  Pizza Hut. This is a first....at least that we know about. There was an Italian pizza place that went out of business in this same mall but hopefully Pizza Hut will fare better.

There was a park outside the restaurant where we had dinner with the Hays. We loved this climbing apparatus. We have never seen one like it. The children seemed to be really enjoying it. Parks are an important part of the life of a Russian family. They love getting out of their small apartment and being in the parks all year round.



It's October and everyone is in heavy coats already...even though the temperatures don't seem that cold to us. We think it's a date issue not a cold weather issue.

BEING ABLE TO WATCH GENERAL CONFERENCE 

MADE OUR WEEK

AN ESPECIALLY GOOD ONE.