Fall is beautiful!

Hi everyone,

It is beautiful here right now. The leaves are turning red and yellow. The parks and sidewalks are a carpet of yellow as leaves fall. The air is crisp and the breeze has a cool edge. The funny thing is that everyone is totally bundled up like its December! Dad and I go around in a light sweater and feel very comfortable. But the old Russian custom is that the cold can make you sick. That is why they think it is crazy to drink cold beverages. Everything is room temperature or you will catch a cold. Even in the middle of the summer! So now, all the children on the street have hats and gloves and scarves on. We would be boiling if we did that. The weather right now is beautiful cool fall weather, so we are saving our heavy coats for later....probably next week 0;)

One funny "cold" story... In July, on a very hot day, we were visiting the Chelyabinsk branch. It was sweltering inside the building so one of the young sister missionaries opened the window in the relief society room as the meeting was about to start. There was a bit of a nice breeze and several of us gave a sigh of relief, when suddenly an old babushka got up and closed the window and gave us all a lecture about how we were going to catch a cold!! So you can imagine they are all geared up now with the first cool day. It seems funny to me, when there is such a long winter ahead, that they don't enjoy these beautiful days of fall. I think of how our junior high kids sometimes went to school even in the winter in shorts, no matter how I tried to get them to wear a coat. But I wasn't a babushka then! Maybe now I could take a lesson from the wonderful Russian babushkas, and I would be more convincing. You don't dare argue with them!

We have had a great week with one major trial. First the trial: on Tuesday I suddenly had a big corner of my upper front tooth just fall off. It was so strange because I wasn't eating anything. It looked horrible. We contacted a member who is a counselor in the district presidency and is a dentist. He had a young woman dentist in his office who does cosmetic repairs. We took brother Godfrey, one of our senior couples who is a dentist with us to help assess things. he thought that the office was impressive, very hygienic and very modern equipment. They couldn't do the repair right then because they didn't have material that was white enough. So Saturday we went back. Brother Artume had gotten different material that was a much better match - on the black market ! (Apparently that is not all that uncommon. These things get taxed by the government mafia ). The repair looks perfect and I'm all smiles again. Now we just need it to hold for 33 months until I can have the dentist in Park City do a new veneer. The one thing I learned is that I won't have any qualms about referring any of our missionaries here for dental care.

Dad had a great experience this week. You will remember that about six weeks ago he went up to Surgut to visit the twelve members that are left up there with no church organization after the branch was closed down about a year ago. They do not have a Melchizedek priesthood holder, so they can't even function as a group. He and the assistants administered the sacrament to the group on a Wednesday night. They all asked for blessings, which he gave. They were all so grateful. He met the husband of one of the women. They have split up, he is totally inactive, but did agree to come to meet Dad. After talking for quite awhile, with him declining Dads counsel and invitation to read the Book of Mormon and to return to activity, Dad felt impressed to tell him that no matter what he decided to do, he would still love him as a brother and hoped that his life would bring him happiness.

Tuesday this man called him quite unexpectedly and said that he was taking an overnight train to Yekaterinburg and wanted to meet with dad. It is about a 22 hour train ride. When he came to the mission office he greeted Dad with a big hug and smile. He said that after they talked, the love that Dad had expressed to him had really touched his heart. He started to read the Book of Mormon. He felt his testimony begin to return and felt the Savior's love for him. He said that he had moved back in with his wife and they were happier than they had ever been. He said he wanted to prepare to be worthy to hold the priesthood and help with the members in Surgut. Dad gave him some things to do and they created a plan. We will go there in about a month to ordain him. It was such a sweet experience for dad to feel how the spirit had worked upon this man and blessed him. It is also amazing to see how The Lord is working to establish the church in this part of Russia. People's hearts are being touched and they are being led to find the gospel.

Another amazing occurrence was written by one of our elders in his letter to Dad on Monday. He has served here in Ekaterinburg for quite awhile and is a great zone leader. Dad felt strongly impressed to move him to Kurgan which is our smallest branch and really needs help and more priesthood. This Elder wrote that for the last five months his mother has been attending the temple each week and praying for him. She felt a strong impression several months ago, and repeatedly since, to pray for a Russian man named Edward. She has mentioned it often and this elder said he was beginning to worry about it. Edward is not a Russian name and would be quite unusual to find here. Anyway, the first day in Kurgan they met a young man on the street, told him about the Book of Mormon and he was very interested and made an appointment to learn more. when they asked his name he said it is Edward! The first person on the first day in the city! Yesterday the elder called and asked us to pray with him, because it turns out that they wrote the number down wrong. He is devastated, but we feel certain that The Lord will help them find Edward again. We invite you to add your prayers to ours.

We feel privileged to be a part of this great work. We are grateful for the promises we were given that the Lord will watch over all of you while we are away. We feel your love and support. We know we are being helped by forces we can't see. We look forward to seeing great growth in this part of the Lord's vineyard.

Bear Hugs to all!
Mom aka Grandma





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