Great week.

This has been a great, but crazy week. We have had missionaries leaving to go home, missionaries arriving from the MTC in Madrid, and three native missionaries arriving home from their missions in other parts of Russia. Normally that would happen on different days, but because of a mixup by the travel people in Madrid, it all happened on the same day. Or at least we thought it was going to, but when we went to the airport very early to pick up missionaries, they were not there. We returned home, checked for the mistake, and made another 5 am run to the airport the next day. They still did not arrive. Thoroughly confused, we returned to the mission home to wait for the time to get late enough that we could call Madrid again. Two hours later, the mission office called us and said they were at the mission office. They had missed a flight and arrived from Rome instead of Moscow. Of course we weren't there to meet them, so they took a taxi. Fortunately these were two native Russian sisters, so they were happy and very matter of fact about it. I'm glad it wasn't two American sisters, they would have been in total meltdown I'm afraid.

New sister on left from Ukraine with her companion from
St. Petersburg. They are excited!

Another new sister (left) from Ukraine.

That night we had our dinner and testimony meeting with the outgoing missionaries, and an hour later the native missionaries and a big crown of their families and friends arrived for them to be released. We served more food, sang christmas carols and visited while Dad interviewed and released each one, and just enjoyed the happiness of returning missionaries. An interesting detail is that one of the returning missionaries is the girlfriend of elder Krivov, Dad's Russian assistant. He is from another mission, and they met years ago at a youth conference. I hope things work out for them, they both have such stalwart testimonies. The future of the church in Russia depends on couples like them.

Elder Gladkov conducting Christmas carols.

Saying goodbye is hard!

Today we got all ready to go to Ufa for the weekend. We were taking lots of extra luggage with us in order to deliver Christmas packages that had come to the office for our missionaries in Ufa. We flew for about an hour, and were within a few minutes of Ufa, when they announced that they had to turn back because of the weather. Finally back where we started, Our luggage was delayed getting off the plane because the door had frozen shut, and them our taxi was late, of course. We arrived back at the mission home about 3:00 after a pretty frustrating day. We got lots of scripture study done, but not much else. The funny thing is, that living in Russia, you just learn to roll with it. Things rarely happen as fast as they should. Patience and flexibility are necessary qualities here! Now my only concern is finding a way to get these packages to our missionaries. There is not an internal delivery system in this country that can be trusted or that is not very expensive. It is easier to get a package from the US than to get one between cities.

As we approach our first christmas away from family, and our six month mark, my hear is filled with gratitude for the many things we have experienced and learned as we have served here. We have learned that it is truly a joyful thing to give our whole heart, might, mind and strength in service to The Lord and His children. We have often felt divine help and experienced immediate answers to prayers. The spirit of the work fills us with joy as we see lives changed, peace and understanding come, and covenants made by those our missionaries teach.

Our gratitude and love for family has grown so much. We feel the assurance of the Lord that He
aware of, and watching over all of us. We are so grateful for every one of you!

Mom