June 26, 2016

Hello Family,

I hope you are all happy and healthy. The past week has really flown by. Well really, they all do. We didn’t do much this weekend as far as sightseeing. Saturday, we did laundry, went to the market, and I was invited to go with Jenni, President and Sister Schwab’s daughter, to a few souvenir shops. The Sister missionaries, Sister Taylor and Warnick met us there so they could interpret for Jenni. It was fun, but I was under strict instructions not to spend any more money. We’ve spent a lot recently trying to get Christmas bought so we could ship it home with President Schwab’s household items. Of course, if I had found anything I couldn’t live without I’m sure Dad wouldn’t have had any objections. I guess, for once, I was being responsible. It’s funny, because even though we are paying for our mission, apartment, food, utilities, etc., we are saving money. I guess it’s because my kids and grandkids aren’t around for me to spoil.

The Schwab’s called us later that afternoon and they had decided to go to a Russian Orthodox ceremony (church meeting) and wanted to know if we wanted to come. We did. I had my scarf in my purse but I grabbed my extra one to take along too. They picked us up and Sister Schwab said she forgot her scarf and needed to go back home but I told her I had grabbed my extra one so she was set. The bells were ringing as we got there. It was beautiful.  It was a church we’d been in previously but is was neat to see the service. The Priests went around the outside of the congregation with one of them swinging bells and something filled with incense. Therefore, everyone got smoked so to speak. They also stopped at a few of the icons of Christ and did something there. There were people singing during this whole time in a loft above us. It was beautiful but really made me appreciate our services.

The countdown is on, 5 days until the Schwab’s leave. Sister Schwab and I have found so many things in common with each other. We both look to the positive in things, we both like to laugh until our guts ache, and we both have the middle name Marie and many other things. She is a special woman who loves watching out for her missionaries. President Schwab is amazing too. He makes the missionaries toe the line about obeying the rules but I’ve never met a more compassionate man. He knows his scriptures backward and forward. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see him called as an Area Authority. I’m sure we will be even closer to the Ottesen’s since we will serve with them for a year, but it’s hard to imagine.

I got a call on the mission landline the other day. I hate answering that line because most of the time it’s someone speaking Russian. I have to find someone who can talk to them. However, the other day when it rang there was no one in the office but Dad and I. I slowly picked up the phone and answered.

Me, “Russia Samara Mission, this is Sister Stewart”

Him, “Hello Sister Stewart, I’d like to speak to the widely known Elder Stewart please.”

So I handed the phone to Dad. It was a guy from the Mission office in Moscow on the line. They were calling about a Branch audit all the wards and branches needed to do that Dad was in charge of making sure it’s done. Dad and I were sure wondering if being “widely known” is a good thing or a bad thing.

Last Tuesday was Elder Haroldsen’s birthday. He turned 21. They called to see if they could celebrate with us. We told them if they got permission to go out of their area they could come over for dinner. We ordered Papa John’s pizza. Elder Anderson made his pear cake for us again. It was nice to have them over and nice that they wanted to celebrate with us. I made him a card with some pictures of him on it from zone conference. They couldn’t take the left over pizza and cake with them since they were going teaching so Dad and I had it for lunch for the next two days.

The AP’s are finally back. They left Tuesday afternoon to go to Saratov for splits or as they call it, exchanges. It’s always too quiet when they are gone. It’s not that they are loud but they are always getting calls from other missionaries.

Svetlana was still sick this week so I didn’t get to visit her. I told the Sisters on Friday, during our district meeting that is was my fault. I told her I thought she wasn’t an atheist anymore and all of a sudden, she is too sick to see the missionaries. They just laughed at me. They are supposed to meet with her today.

The sisters have a baptism on July 2^nd at 7:00 PM. They are so pumped. The AP’s found this woman tracting and turned her over to the Sisters. She is Armenian and her older son is taking lessons from the AP’s. They are both doing the Church program to stop smoking. She has been cigarette free for a while now. They asked me for an Armenian Triple. I was surprised that I had one. We have many Books of Mormon in other languages. Then I discovered I had a “Preach my Gospel”, “Gospel Essentials” and several pamphlets in Armenian. The Sisters were way excited. I’m going to make cookies to bring. It will be the new mission president’s first baptism.

Thursday night we had dinner with Pavel and Maria. You probably saw my post on Facebook. It was a beautiful evening. Last week was too hot and humid but this week has been great. We ate dinner at a restaurant called “Myasnoff".  We can’t find anything that tells us what that means. They picked us up at almost 8:30 PM. We were starving waiting that long. We didn’t get home until 11:00PM. I was a lot of fun. Pavel is a taxi driver who speaks English. His wife Maria works for the tourism industry and is helping getting Samara ready for the World Cup in 2018. They have a 6-year-old daughter who we haven’t met yet.

 

The stoplights are interesting here. The green light flashes for a tiny bit as it is getting ready to change then it hits yellow for just a second and then turns red. When it’s red it will then change to yellow and then green.

Friday the Schwab’s bought pizza and dessert for the whole office to tell them thank you. It was fun. Sasha acted as an interpreter for him since the AP’s weren’t there. President Schwab asked them all to tell about meeting the missionaries and being baptized. It was amazing to see the Lords hand in them being lead to the Missionaries. Sister Scherova said her husband met the missionaries and talked to them. This was right after they moved to Samara. She asked her husband why he didn’t invite them to dinner since they didn’t know anyone else. He just told her if it was meant to be they would see them again. A week later, they ran into the same missionaries. They were invited to church and her husband told her afterwards “This is the church we need to belong to.” Sister Rieesa has been a member for over 20 years. President Blinkov and Clemov both are long time members. They all have an incredible spirit about them especially when they talk about their conversion. Working in the office, we don’t often get to see this side of them.

We invited the Schwab’s over for dinner on Friday night and I made my (famous among the missionaries) pot roast, corn, carrots, baked potatoes, rolls and salad. It turned out great. I use Kelly’s recipe but I make the au jus sauce into gravy. They loved it and we sat and talked for quite a while. It’s fun to see President Schwab relax.

For those of you (you know who you are) who think I need more exercise than walking I want to tell you about the hills I climb daily:

Stairs to our apartment 26

Stairs from our apartment to the mission office 48

Stairs from the mission office to the walking street 72

And that’s not counting all the uphill stuff that doesn’t include the stairs. Man do I do weight bearing exercises. Every time I heft my body up one of those stairs, I’m bearing a lot of weight!!!

Most days, we leave the apartment between 5 and 6 am to go walking. Then up the stairs to go home. Then repeat to go to work. Weekends are better or worse depending on if we take a bus or walk. So far, my knees have held up pretty well. Keep praying for them as well as the rest of Dad and me.

We love you all!

Love,

Mom