Our first Missionaries!

Dear family,

It has been a busy and wonderful week. After we talked to you Sunday night/Monday morning, we spent our Pday preparing for the week. Dad spent the day planning for all the training that was to take place. Wednesday we were to receive our first group of missionaries from the MTC. These were seven of the group that we met when we were at the Mission Presidents training seminar in June and we have really looked forward to having them arrive.

7 new missionaries arrive at the airport, with assistants,
sister training leaders and President and Sister C.

I headed to Metro (the Russian version of Costco) with Ivan, our driver, to purchase two big carts full of groceries for the week. Grocery shopping here is a much bigger job than at home. It is harder because I am looking for items based on the pictures that are sometimes, but not always on the labels. If it doesn't have a picture, I'm toast. No really, I have a Russian/English dictionary, but it takes so long that it gets pretty laborious. This was my third time at Metro and it helped that I'm beginning to know the layout of the store. Then everything has to be unloaded at the front door of the building, brought inside to the elevator and brought up 7 floors and hauled inside our apartment before it can be put away. When that was done, I started to do all the prep work for 7 meals: some for 13 people, most for 24. I got all the vegetables cleaned and chopped, meat washed and cut and sauces made.

About that time I was exhausted, Dad had finished his work, and we decided to take an evening stroll to explore our neighborhood as a Pday activity. Two blocks away we discovered a very nice mall in a tall office building. There is a big grocery store in the basement, about 4 floors of typical mall type stores, above that a food court, above that a huge large and small appliance store (the selection was astounding, for instance, 37 blow dryers!) above that a movie theater and arcade, and we kept going because it seemed like we could hear. . . . .yes!! . . . . a bowling alley in the top floor! It is stacked up, instead of laid out like American malls, but amazingly similar. I doubt that I will need to do much shopping except for groceries, but we got a good meal at the food court and enjoyed exploring.

Tuesday we attended the weekly office meeting with staff and senior missionaries. Then we headed back to the mission home to receive the five missionaries who were returning home. They each came for their final interview and then headed out for a couple final hours of street contacting. We shared a nice meal (if i do say so myself!), had a very tender testimony meeting and then left to take our assistant, Elder Brinton, to the airport while the others settled down. He was the hardest to say goodbye to because we have really grown to love and appreciate him during these first six weeks of our mission. He has been so helpful in helping us get oriented. He is flying east to Vladivostock where his Dad is the mission president, then will head to Harvard to start his second year of college.

At 4:30am Wednesday morning we headed to the airport again with the other four returning missionaries. It was a tender drive as they shared with each other their feelings about leaving the mission. They have all served well and overcome many challenges.

Later, I made two Texas sheet cakes and cooked dinner for the incoming group of missionaries while Dad prepared with his assistants. Then we headed back to the airport to pick up our seven new missionaries: four sisters and three elders. They looked worn out but excited, and our hearts were immediately full of love for them. We helped gather luggage and headed out of the baggage area where we stopped to take some pictures to send to parents. As we took the pictures we saw a number of people watching our group with interest. I understand why. With our two assistants and two sister training leaders, we had eleven very sharp looking young people with us. One lady came up and asked who we were, and ended up walking away with a Book of Mormon and an appointment to meet with the elders. Dad had noticed another lady observing us and told elder O'Neill, our assistant to go talk to her. He said he had noticed her too then walked over to a different lady than the one Dad had pointed out. After she accepted a Book of Mormon and made a follow up appointment, Dad pointed out the lady he had intended. He and elder O'Neill then talked to her, and set up an appointment to deliver a Book of Mormon (we were out by then). We walked out to the cars with three teaching appointments and a resolve to always stop there to take pictures. It's perfect! People are standing or sitting there waiting for someone to arrive. They can't help being curious about these remarkable and impressive looking young people and noticing the joy we are all experiencing.

It was a bit crowded with all 13 of us around the dinner table, but the spirit was so strong as we shared our feelings about this wonderful mission and told each of them a little about the trainer they would have and the city they would serve in first. Then we moved into the living room for about an hour of orientation. Before sending them upstairs to an early bedtime, (They all looked so grateful! ;) we sang a hymn. It was a tender moment filled with the spirit. Their voices were strong with testimony and the joy of finally arriving in their mission. As we knelt in prayer my heart was full of gratitude to The Lord for the trust he has placed in us.

Thursday morning after breakfast we started training in earnest. All of the office staff came to the mission home to talk about their respective responsibilities and accomplish the registration we need done. The trainers arrived and were introduced with lots of hugs. After lunch Dad spent several hours teaching about the many ways that Ammon is a great model for us as missionaries. He also talked about trust that we need to establish with members, each other and our investigators, what it is and how to establish it. He is such a great trainer and inspires the missionaries to know that they can expect miracles. Then he taught them how to use the Book of Mormon as a finding tool to get a 10 minute follow up teaching appointment. We are beginning to see good results from this in our mission and the missionaries are excited about the great increase in teaching that they are experiencing. The older missionaries role played several versions of this and then the new missionaries were given role play scenarios to do. Role playing is a powerful teaching tool that really helps missionaries be prepared and feel confident in their teaching abilities. After dinner they all went out to teach by practicing what had been taught them. They returned to share their experiences, and have dessert.

Friday morning we fed them breakfast and they departed with their trainers to their first areas. All of them expressed how grateful they were for the warm and loving welcome. Our hearts were full of gratitude for this wonderful opportunity to serve with all our heart, might, mind and strength. Truly, All four of those components of ourselves are required in great measure in this calling. As I started on the enormous pile of sheets and towels and thought about all the food I had prepared in three days, I felt truly grateful for health and strength that allows me to work hard. I'm thankful for the instantaneous bonding of hearts that we had experienced. And I treasure the increased understanding and testimony that we have experienced as we have sought the inspiration to know what and how to teach and train these new missionaries.

By 3 pm we had cleaned up the house, packed, and were on our way to Kurgan, a very bumpy six hour drive away. Saturday morning we met with the new sisters assigned to that area, then attended a coordination meeting at the church with all the missionaries. We helped clean the church and gave a fireside at seven. About thirty people,including our 8 missionaries attended. This is our smallest branch. Sacrament meeting attendance is usually around thirty, sometimes lower in the summer when many people leave town or live at their dachas where they grow food. It is a branch that really needs help. There are few Melchizedek priesthood holders. The converts they do get often move away to Moscow where they can get better work.

Dad doing the dishes after the Kurgan sisters fed us a fabulous lunch.

On our way back to the hotel I had a strong impression that we should stop and get some groceries to have for eating Sunday afternoon on the drive back to Yekaterinburg. (Our assistants are always dying of hunger on our long drives back each sunday evening.) I was tired and thought the bag of stuff I had already brought would probably be sufficient, yet the thought came again. When I mentioned it, dad agreed. The next morning, just as sacrament meeting was about to start, the branch president said that the man who was supposed to bring the bread had forgotten. The relieved look on his face, when I told him that we had some extra bread, was a sweet reward for following the spirit. Dads talk was wonderful. He spoke about twenty minutes, all in Russian with few notes. Once again, many members expressed how overjoyed they are that they finally have a mission president who speaks Russian. Dad participates in Sunday School, makes comments, expresses his feelings on subjects and talks to members before and after meetings. He even played the piano for priesthood meeting. The missionaries are blown away that he speaks and understands as much as he does. After the block we all gathered to take pictures. I got at least a dozen hugs from three cute little girls who are 9 and 10. I told them they were beautiful and reminded me of my own granddaughters. They promised me they would read from the Book of Mormon every day. They, along with a little boy and two babies are the Primary.

Members of the Kurgan branch with missionaries.

Dad saying good bye to Kurgan Branch President, an unmarried man who 

runs the branch of 23 people with a firm, exacting, and no-nonsense manner, 

but who, without many really feeling it sometimes, loves the members.

It is now 9 pm Sunday and we are just reaching Yekaterinburg. It has been a wonderful and memorable week. We feel grateful for the opportunity to serve.

We love you all and look forward to skyping!
Mom