Sunday, February 05, 2017

Dear Family,

Well, the Elder’s moved our dinner back an hour so I’m starting my letter early. Usually I sit down to write after they all leave for home after Sunday Dinner. Today our AP’s are out traveling with President and Sister O. They really hate missing Sunday dinner, so I kindly sent them a text with a picture of the apple crisp I made. Elder Buchanan, in particular, loves apple crisp. But I did make a crock pot chicken pot pie that you spoon over biscuits. He has a phobia about things made with a white looking sauce. (not the taste, just the color) So since he was going to be gone I decided to go for it. We also have some roasted vegetables and salad.

Monday we got to see a lot of the Elders and Sisters. This is their P-day so they write one. Several of them use the computers in the office. President O came in with some changes to his power point presentation for me to do. He is always apologizing to me and I keep telling him it isn’t a problem. Changes are easy. Then he came in on Tuesday with a couple more. Wednesday was our zone conference where he was going to show the PowerPoint so by Tuesday the changes were finally done. Dad has some editing software on his computer so he is in charge of getting the pieces of video or audio that President wants and then puts them on a thumb drive for me, then I put them in the PowerPoint.

Wednesday the Volunteers got to the New Bezi building early so they could have breakfast together. Dad and I went with President and Sister O. Ramon drove us. We had three Russians at zone conference. Pasha from our branch in NovoK, Dema from Orenburg and Jonathan from Avrora. Jonathan will be leaving soon for a mini mission to Penza. I think he will be gone for 2 to 4 weeks.  President is trying to encourage Dema and Pasha to go on a mini mission. You’ll have to see if you can pick them out in the picture I send to you.

The zone conference was awesome. President focused on Repentance. There are so many of our Russian brothers and sisters fall away soon after baptism. President thinks that some of that may be because they did something wrong and then think they are a failure. Dad and I were talking to him about this and he wonders how many of the Volunteers truly understand this gift. He hopes that through learning more and teaching it they will understand it better.

One of the assignments we had to prepare for the conference was to read an Article from the November Liahona (Ensign) from 2011 titled “The Diving Gift of Repentance” by Elder Christofferson. One of the things he said that hit me was “Pretending there is no sin does not lessen its burden and pain. Suffering for sin does not by itself change anything for the better. Only repentance leads to the sunlit uplands of a better life. And, of course, only through repentance do we gain access to the atoning grace of Jesus Christ and salvation. Repentance is a divine gift, and there should be a smile on our faces when we speak of it. It points us to freedom, confidence, and peace. Rather than interrupting the celebration, the gift of repentance is the cause for true celebration.”

Another thing that really struck me was when President Ottesen told us that taking the Sacrament after repenting makes us just as clean as coming up out of the waters of baptism. I hadn’t thought of it that way. Who of us doesn’t need to repent each week, each day? Who hasn’t got mad at a sibling or loved one. Who hasn’t had uncharitable thoughts toward another during the week? To be able to repent of those things each week as we partake of the Sacrament is one of the greatest gifts our Father in Heaven has given us.

We combined Zone Conference and Zone Training so the AP’s each spoke. Elder Quarnberg talked about being diligent. He had everyone stand and line up and come by and look in a box. He said, in there we would see what effects our diligent the most. In the box was a mirror.

Elder Buchanan spoke about Desire. His definition of desire was “An emotion strong enough to make us do something we wouldn’t normally do.” They both did a terrific job. The elder and sisters who were leaving for home this Tuesday bore their testimony at the end of conference. Sister Howe said one of her favorite quotes was “When you hit rock bottom out find out who your rock is.” All of gave wonderful testimonies but that just struck a cord with me.

Sister Warnick said during hers that one of her life changing experiences was when she was serving in Avrora with Sister Thomas. Shortly after coming there the Avrora Branch President apostatized. He and his wife were visiting all the members and trying to take as many with them as they could. President Schwab told those two sisters that they needed to get out and talk to the entire ward member they could.

One of the wonderful Sisters in the Avrora branch is named Kreshenia. She has dreads and colors them blue. She is the one who plans a lot of activities, like the snail races. Anyway the former branch president went to talk to her. He talked and talked, showing her all the anti-Mormon literature that he had. She just listened and didn’t say anything; they were friends of hers. Then he asked her how she could just sit there and say nothing after listening to everything they had to say, all the proof they gave her. This was her response: The only way I would EVER not believe in the church and its teachings is if God himself would come down in the flesh and tell me it wasn’t true. Nothing else would make me leave the church. Sister Warnick said she felt, right then and there, that she wanted a testimony as strong as Kreshenias. It was a wonderful conference. Who thought that Dad and I could sit in a meeting for 6 some hours and love it?

I give my NovoK Elders a treat every Sunday and today I have them a chocolate bar filled with mint. Elder Miller told me I was the best Grandmother ever!! It has snowed all day today. As we were leaving Lilya put on her fur coat and hat and reminded me of a teddy bear. She is short, round and her smile lights up the room.

For the last while I’ve been helping out in Primary on Sunday. I came in on the 3^rd hour to just sort of watch the kids play. They were having a combined meeting of the Priesthood and Relief Society that Maria went to. There was a disagreement between Veronica and Deanna. Veronica was speaking to me in Russian. I kept telling her I didn’t understand. She kept trying, using hand motions but I still didn’t get it. They got mad at each other a little. Then Deanna accidently made her sister fall into the Lego thing she made and ruined it. She cried very loudly. Her Mom finally came in and made her feel better. I felt bad but she didn’t want me to help her. I finally got them all to play a matching game.

Saturday, our branch president invited Dad and I to their home for lunch. He was in Samara so picked us up. We told him to go by McDonalds and bought lunch for everyone including happy meals for the kids. They never do that or hardly ever go to McDonalds but they love it. We take so much for granted and they have so little. The kids all got Batman masks and were super excited. They put up a jungle gym sort of thing in the kids room. It is super cool. I’ll send pictures.

Tuesday is going to be fun (not). We are going on a visa trip and they plan on leaving at 4:30 AM. The earlier we get to the boarder the faster we make it through.

I love you all,

Mom