Sunday, July 24, 2016

Dear Family,

Happy Pioneer Day! I made cookies to take to the office tomorrow to celebrate. Sister Ottesen and I went to Metro to shop. Ramon came in with us to help Sister O get her metro card. While we were standing there, they asked for my card and passport so I gave it to them. When Ramon handed it back to me, he pointed out that it said Jane Schwab on it. When we filled everything out it had all my information on it and my passport number so I don’t know how it ended up with Sister Schwab’s name. Oh well, it gets me in the door.

Last Sunday Sister Vera (from NovoK) invited us and the Ottesen’s to come to dinner on Monday. The AP’s came with us to translate. One reason Sister Vera wanted me to invite the Ottesen’s because she wanted her temple recommend signed. She had it signed several weeks ago by the Branch pres. and now needed it signed by Pres Ottesen. She showed it to me after she got it. She was so excited. We had the NovoK elders tell them that they didn’t need to feed us because we know they don’t have a lot of money, but when we got to their home, they had dinner ready. They fed us but didn’t eat themselves. I can only hope they ate earlier. Sister Vera told us this was all for us. She sent the leftovers with us.

There was a plate of sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, a plate of green beans and some macaroni salad with chopped peppers in it and corn. I ate everything and really enjoyed the salad. Then they brought out this heavenly looking chocolate cake. It looked like it was professionally done. The outside was ringed with walnuts. They cut us nice big pieces. I tried to eat around the nuts and when no one was paying attention I traded plates with Dad and he ate my nuts. We had homemade cherry and apricot juice. Then when we were stuffed full, they brought out watermelon. I finished one piece and they put another on my plate.

They are such a neat family. Vera’s husband is out of work and has a leg that isn’t working right. He hasn’t been to church since we started coming. He started to tell Pres. Ottesen about how it used to be. He had a picture of the Missionary who baptized them. He said things were different now. I was so impressed with Pres. Ottesen. Instead of getting defensive or trying to find excuses he just looked Levon in the eye and asked, “What can I do to help.” Levon was taken aback, looked intently at Pres Ottesen and said, “I don’t know.” I could see Levon really start to thaw. At another point during the time we were there, Pres Ottesen put his hands on Levon’s shoulders, looked him in the eye and called him Brother.

Before we left Pres. O asked if he could leave a blessing on this family. He gave a beautiful one that touched everyone. I know Levon will come back and be a big part of this branch. Dad is so happy to have another male crier at the mission. Dad tears up a lot and so does Pres Ottesen.

The beginning of the week Dad and I were helping the Ottesen’s get ready for zone conference in Saratov. After the conference, they planned to meet with the ward and branch presidents to talk about all the changes taking place. I was printing off tons of things for them. Sister Ottesen wanted to make some cookies or something for the meeting with the presidents so I offered the ones I had in my freezer. They left for Saratov on Wednesday afternoon. It’s about a 5 ½-hour trip. The Zone conference with the volunteers started at 9:00 am Thursday, and the presidency meeting started at 6:00pm. They left to come back to Samara at about 8:30 PM, drove all night (Ramon drove) and we started our meeting in Samara about 10:30 am. We had both the Toliatti and Samara zones together. Dad and I went home around 5 and the Ottesen’s didn’t get home until around 8:00pm. Soooo happy we didn’t have to live their schedule.

I have to tell you about one highlight of zone conference. Let me go back a little bit. The day after the Ottesen’s got to Samara, we had baptism. One of the sisters we are close to, asked Dad to administer a blessing to her. President Ottesen assisted in this and did the anointing and Dad gave the blessing. This sister had an ovarian cyst. She had been given medication to dissolve it. It didn’t work. She was on a second round of medication and if it didn’t take care of the problem, she would have to go home early from her mission for surgery.  She had asked Dad during the week to do this for her on Saturday either before or after the baptism. Dad prayed about it and prepared himself to give this blessing. Through the power of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood, they laid their hands on her head and Dad told her that the cyst would be gone and she would finish out her mission. He told her that there for more people for her to teach. It was pretty profound and had us all in tears. This sister gave Dad a huge hug.

Then of course, came the questions in Dad’s mind. Was that right, was that me or the Lord? However, he knew, beyond anything, that he was supposed to say what he did. He decided to trust in the Lord and say what he had been prompted to say.

So at Zone conference this was our conversation with this sister.

Sister Stewart, “So, what is happening with the Cyst?”

Sister, “I went to the doctor yesterday for an ultra-sound. She was looking at the screen for a while and I asked her, ‘so, how does it look?’”

Tech, “Small, of course.”

Sister, “Small, I guess that’s good, right?”

Tech, “Of course your uterus is small, you haven’t had kids yet.”

Sister, “What about the cyst?”

Tech, “What cyst, there’s no cyst there.”

Sister, “No cyst at all?”

Tech, “No cyst.”

The sister started screaming and crying. I told her she had to tell Elder Stewart about this. We called him over and he couldn’t help himself he grabbed her and gave her a big hug with tears shining in his eyes, which of course made me tear up. Elder Stewart doesn’t get to hug the sisters normally but he made an exception in this case.  We told her in another conversation that we knew we were in Samara for a reason and she feels that she is one of those reasons. This was a sacred time for us; one that we will never forget.

Thank heaven for the power of the priesthood. I remember the first time Dad used this holy power. Not being a frequent churchgoer Dad hadn’t see the priesthood in action very often. Brian was just a little guy, somewhere between a 6 months and a year. He started crying and we knew it was a cry of pain. He was holding his ear so we also knew it was an ear infection. There was no insta-care at that time; we didn’t know what to do to help him feel better. I suggested that Dad give him a blessing. Dad hadn’t ever given a priesthood blessing before. He gave a very sweet and sincere blessing, asking Heavenly Father to ease Brian’s pain that night, just until we could get him to the doctor. No sooner had he closed that blessing than Brian fell asleep in our arms. Dad looked at me, I stared right back and he said, “It worked!” Priesthood power is real and it comes from God. I’ve had blessings from my father and from my husband and I felt the power in both of those.

Saturday Dad and I met Sister O out on the Volga at about 12:15. President stayed home to read letters. He gets letters from each volunteer once per week. We walked down to the end and we showed her all the different monuments. 

The Volunteer’s, Branch Pres, Bishops, President and Sister Ottesen, the Stake leaders in Saratov have been working hard to figure out how to effectively use the Volunteers. 

 I love you all. Thanks for all your emails and phone calls. They mean so much to Dad and I.

Love,

Mom