Fellowship with Members

The week of May 20 was the first time I had come down with a cold for quite some time.  I was able to attend English Club on Tuesday but by Wednesday I had a sore throat and was not able to attend family home evening on Wednesday and Institute class on Thursday.  Was able to go out with Elder Janson looking for some members.  Saturday we had to have sports night at the church as the weather was bad.

While suffering from my cold I was able to look out our window and see our street being paved.  I was told that never happens here, but we were pleased to see it.  Have of the crew working on this project were women who manned shovels to clean up the street from the dirt at the curbs.  They also raked and moved the blacktop behind the paving machine.  You can see the red van across the street in the process of being covered.

Now it is completely covered.  It has not moved from that spot since we moved here and we wondered why  they bothered.  The tractor below was used to cut a furrow between the road and the uncurbed areas.  It also was used for front end loader duty.  Another tractor was used with a sweeper attachment to clean the surface prior to paving.  They are also used to haul large trailers with debris.

Thursday was our district meeting.  This is our district for the past six weeks.  We learned that Elder Stegeby will will be moving on to the city of Tula.  Hard to believe that Elder Bishop has been here for six weeks already.  Elder Janson will receive a new missionary fresh from the MTC for his new companion.  Elder Bishop is going to have to step up now and help translate for us.

They requested a goofy picture too, so here it is.  I Think Sister Hoagland wins the prize, don't you?

The Lipetzk primary in action.  Sister Hoagland is helping Ani Rashonyan with the music.  She is also using LDS.org, as it is a fantastic resource for primary.  I have been teaching the teenage class with Elder Janson doing the interpreting.  This week was a challenge  with 4 boys who really didn't want to be there.  I wish I had the skills to make the class more fun and interesting to them.

Elder Janson setting up the camera's for our district picture.  One is just toppling over.  Elder Stegeby has the neatest little tripod and can work almost anywhere.  Its legs are flexible and can grip doors or other objects as well as sit on uneven surfaces.  We have a TV, but all programs are in Russian so we have not watched any TV since moving in.  

Just about finished paving the street.

A couple of sunsets from our apartment.

Sunday we had the Rushanyan children for dinner.  Their parents have a farm and their employees got drunk so they had do go do the chores.  We were disappointed they could not come.  Anastasia was there too.  All the girls speak some English so we didn't need the Elders to interpret for us.  Radic is 14, Ani is 20 and Rima is 19.  Those three girls would be a real catch for someone.  They are faithful and knowledgeable Latter Day Saints.

On P-day the elders took me shopping for ties.  Most of mine are serving their second mission and I am tired of them.  We went to the local street market to see what we could find.  Not much at the first market which was also the largest.

The next market was smaller and only had one stall that sold ties.  Fortunately it had a large selection.  Here the Elders are having a feeding frenzy.  I was able to buy three pretty nice ties for $6.00 each.  We purchased a total of 17 ties from this shop.

Natalia above and Misha, her son came to dinner last week with Elders Janson and Stegeby.  It was nice to get to know them better.  Those in the branch who do not speak any English are harder to know without these one on one visits.  Natalia has been a member for 5 years.  She works at some kind of care center and lives about 30 minutes out of town in a house with her parents.  Misha is 11.  Natalia is also paid to take care of all our legal paperwork, such as registering all us missionaries with the city, and contracts for our rental agreements.  We all have to re-register every time we come back from our visa trips.  Inexplicably we did not take any pictures of Natalia and Misha while they were here so I had to pull them out of a group picture. 

First Visa Trip

Every 90 days we must leave Russia and come back in on a new visa.  This was our first experience.  We received a call on Wednesday this last week giving us information concerning our travel to and from Moscow.  We already had our airline tickets.  We were given the option of leaving that night on the night train to Moscow or wait until the next day on a day train.  We opted for the night train so we could participate in the zone conference held there on Thursday and maybe get in some sight seeing.  

 The night train leaves at 11:00 pm.  Here Elder Hoagland is attempting to get in the top bunk.  This strong arm method did not work.  I had to use the little fold out ladder with the narrow rungs that require my using shoes to step on.  Sister Hoagland opted to sleep on the lower bunk where she took this wonderful picture.

As the train left the station with just the two of us in this compartment set up for four, we were very happy.  Not so fast!  At 1:00 am our door was opened and someone else came in and started making up the bunk under my bed.  As I leaned over to see what was happening, I saw a woman taking off her blouse.  Now all this was bad enough, (being awakened and having to share our room) but the conductor folded up my stairs and put my shoes on the floor.   Now how was I going to get to the bathroom!  With that worry it took a long time to get back to sleep.  The lady was very nice and turned out to be a Mary Kay sales person.    

We were supposed to be picked up by mission driver, and taken to the zone conference.  After waiting for an hour we started  to be concerned and a little frustrated about our situation.  I had left my phone at home in the rush to get to the train so we had no phone numbers to call and no address.  Taxis drivers were not helpful, not being able to find an address.  We sat down near where the Taxi Drivers were looking for fares and they found a wonderful young woman who spoke English. She had an Ipad and phone and located a government relations person who helped visitors who were stranded. The PR person after talking to us knew we were a "senior couple"  and was able to get the address of the church.  The good Samaritan went with us to the taxi but would not take any money.  We have found the Russians are very willing to help us ignorant foreigners when we need it.  

The office people were very happy to see us at the conference as were we.  It was a little disconcerting not speaking the language and having no idea how to get where we needed to be.  We were 2 1/2 hours getting to the conference.  After a wonderful lunch provided by the ex-patriot Ward, the conference began with a special musical number.  Part of the conference was teaching how to use the phone in making appointments after getting an initial contact on the street or bus.  Then there was a discussion about the many ways people are prepared to receive the gospel.  President Woolley asked all those who were converts, which virtually all the missionaries from Eastern Europe are, to talk about how they were prepared to receive it.  Most came via the English club, which showed its great importance.  The most compelling story was from Elder & Sister Storm who joined as a young married couple.

Sister Storm was raised in Michigan, had read the Bible during her mid teens and knew the bible did not teach the trinity and so had a serious problem with her church.  As young marrieds the  Storms were introduced to the church by an excited new member .  Elder Storm was ready after the first lesson but Sister Storm had a problem with Joseph Smith and the Book of  Mormon.  After feeling good about church doctrine and other aspects of the gospel,  but still not sure about J S & the B of M she & her husband were baptized.  It wasn't until she was asked to teach the Book of Mormon in seminary that she gained a wonderful testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.
  

All those in attendance at the zone conference.  President and Sister Woolley in the front row.  All the senior couples in the back.  We were the only visitors.

For our Salem friends, we thought we had found a young Randy Miller.  His name is Elder Mueller.  

After the zone conference we went a block away to a mall and picked up some food and brought it back to the high counsel room.  Every Thursday night those senior couples who live in Moscow get together for "Senior council."  None in attendance were at the zone conference because that zone includes small cities outside Moscow and Moscow is not in our mission, only the mission office is there.  In July we will all be joined together in one bigger mission.  Almost all of these couples work for the East European area presidency as lawyers, auditors and other professionals.  After gathering and eating prior to the meeting, they begin.

The meeting consisted of discussing social activities for the group, such as an upcoming trip to a park with wonderful tulip beds and museum finished off with a colored fountain display at dusk.  Then  a spiritual thought as pictured above.  This presentation came with a demonstration which I do not know the name of and it would take too long to describe.  It was a wonderful demonstration of how things are not what they seem.  Finally the floor was opened for people to speak of spiritual experience during the week.  There were three.
1.  Was about a baptism one had performed in French.  The young man was from French Africa, had no job and could not speak Russian.  He was very humble and when taught the law of chastity he became concerned, asking, "can I kiss my girlfriend."  He said he didn't know why he came to Russia under those circumstances, but now he thinks he knows.  He was to move to South Africa and they had contacted the Area presidency there to have someone meet him and get him settled there.
2.  A family member had told one of the couples there about a conversion in the Philippines.  A Catholic clergy with the responsibility for over 50,000 members was assigned to do research at the Vatican.  As a result of that research he had lost his faith in that church.  Seeing a missionary on the street he asked to be taught.  A baptismal date was set but a week before the baptism they lost contact.  Could not reach him by phone, could not find him at home.  Three weeks later, he called, saying he had been kidnapped.  They had taken him to an island, but eventually doors were kept unlocked and he escaped.  He joined, was disowned by his family, and harassed by the church.
3.  A less active young man had approached another couple on the train after seeing their name tags.  His mother had asked him to come back into activity when he came to Moscow and he decided to do so.  They made arrangements to meet him at the metro (subway) station, but for two weeks he did not show.  After calling and one last promise to come he finally made it to church this week.

The senior couple council of Moscow.

Moscow Mcdonalds

Night view from the office couple's apartment.

A school below their apartment.

Looking towards Moscow.  They live on the very edge of the city.

A visa trip goes like this.  We fly from Moscow to Kiev, Ukraine using our original passport and visa.  On Arrival we have put away our old passport.  The new passport has our new visa and we use it to fly back to Moscow with another 90 days in country.

These pictures are of the Kiev, Ukraine airport.  We spent about two hours for our flight back.

Back in Russia we were met by the mission driver and two elders who took us to the Metro and eventually to the train station where we left on the 9:42 pm train to Lipetzk.

Here is where we spent 2 hours trying to find our way to the zone conference.

This time our compartment was full from the start.  There was one man in military uniform who mostly stayed in the hall except to sleep and a pretty mother of a 13 yr. old son.  She spoke a little English and saw our inexperience at night train travel and offered to take my upper bunk and made up our beds for us down below.  It pays to be old and to look incompetent.  We had a nice, but short visit as it was soon time for bed.  In the morning she expressed a desire to learn more English.  Did we have the answer for her!  The most effect missionary tool we have, "English Club."  It is non threatening, but we do offer a spiritual thought each time that they do not have to stay for.  She gave us her card with her name, phone and email.  Hopefully the Elders will call her soon and give her the address.  

Missionaries Call Home & other fun stuff

We are really feeling like we are finding our way now in this mission.  This past couple of weeks we have been involved with the Elders in their work.  We have had three lessons taught in our apartment and I have gone on splits with the Elders on lessons and trying to locate less actives.  One less active, Vlademir, has                                                                              been a branch president.  He still has a strong testimony but has not been attending.  That is a goal we hope can be realized.  He is so knowledgeable.  He has expressed appreciation for my coming with the Elders.  I hope he will accept an invitation for dinner soon.

 We finally got a look inside this church that is on the way to one of the grocery stores we trade at.  I didn't go any farther because the was an open casket just to the right with mourners coming and going.  Sister Hoagland did not have a head covering so she did not come in.

 Out with the tulips and in with the pansies and Petunias.

 We pass this memorial on our way too.  It is located on a traffic island next to a military facility.  If you google lipetzk this is one of the things they have pictured.  At the other end of town they have tank mounted on a pedestal.

 Walking to sports night (Saturday) past the monastery.

 Last Sunday our Elders were able to come to our apartment and use both our laptops and call home.  It was so fun to see their happy faces and they got to talk with their mothers & dads and siblings.

 After a lesson in our apartment we played a game.  The investigator in on the floor is the middle behind
Anastasia.  His little boy is not in view and that is why the game.  Sister Hoagland baked cookies.  This man has a date set for baptism.  Anastasia goes with the Elders to many of their lessons and is so helpful.  She is able to teach and bear testimony.

 In the last two weeks there has been a big effort to make flower beds at the school near our apartment.  We walk through its grounds to get to the bus and to get to the church as well.

 More flower beds at the school.

 A statue at another school.  We think this one is private, but not sure.

 A minor miracle occurred this last week when they came and repaved at the west end of our U shaped drive.   The public street is the same pothole infested mess.

 While they had lots of blacktop left, they just loaded it on a truck and left this giant pothole at the east end.

 I was asked to give the spiritual thought for family home evening.  I used Elder Boyd K. Packer's parable of the Mediator.  While trying to make it brief, I paraphrased quite a bit.   Using my massive college educated vocabulary proved  difficult for the Elders to interpret.  Even this young English speaking Russian was having trouble.  I have now learned to keep it simple as their language skills are very good, but it is hard to find the words in Russian that we use in English.  You have to come at it differently because they use different thought processes to make the same point and English does not always have a direct equivalent word. 

 Took a break on the way to the river beach with Artiome and Ararad.  Elder Harris is clowning around in the background.

 Lenin is everywhere.

 A fun place for families to come on a Saturday evening.

 Radic having a swim in the river.

 Most of us were playing volleyball.  I took a break from that this week because we had just returned from a visa trip early that morning and it took us 24 hours to recuperate.

 Elder Bishop and Elder Turner trying for an advantage.

 Elder Stegeby had an answer to their deception.

 Sister Hoagland enjoying the game.  That is my seat next to her.

 Fourteen year old Rodic trying to take down Elder Harris, who was Wyoming state champion for three years in high school.  Not a chance.

 Having a lite refreshment near the end of our sport night.

 Then back to play.

 Horse play with the kids.

 It was a battle we lost trying to keep the little boys out of the water.

 Sweet Margarite with Sister Hoagland.

 Elder Harris, Anastasia, and Arpine mugging for the camera.

Ani (On ee) and Anastasia resting.  These last 8 pictures were taken from Ani's facebook page.