Week 27 - March 26, 2018

Dear Family,

Yesterday was officially our six-month mark in Russia!  In some ways, it seems like we've been here forever--I can hardly remember my life before coming here!  But, Gpa George and I both realize the wonderful opportunity we have being here on the ground level of this mission.  We just continue to try to find ways to utilize our time and talents the way the Lord would have us do while we are here!  

We had Zone Conference this week on Friday. 

I was able to tell about the miracle of Gpa and me meeting the same young woman twice and then getting her telephone number.  The Mission President wanted me to write it up and send it to him so he could put it in the Mission History book.  I was actually able to get a hold of her this week and she was so sweet.  She definitely wanted to get together and even sent me a picture of one of her kids eating her pancakes.  

I told her I made pancakes for my kids and grand kids, too!  Anyway, as it turned out, her little girl got sick, so she told me she would have to arrange a time later.  I am still hoping we can get together soon.  

Also, on Sunday, we were able to be in on a discussion with an elderly Russian gentleman (non-member) who has been on-again, off-again for quite some time.  He started out with inviting Gpa and me to his home, which after the lesson, I told him we would LOVE to come, but of course, we would have to bring our interpreters with us--the missionaries!  So, we are all going out there on Wednesday.  Hopefully, it will be a very positive experience.  We can't teach according to Russian law, in homes--only at the church, but we can definitely get to know him and meet his wife.  We are looking forward to it! 

On Saturday,  we had tickets to the House of Music where we saw the Vienna Imperial Philharmonic Orchestra.  We thought we would hear their choir, but it turned out to be all orchestral music.  We really did enjoy it, however.  They played music from Hollywood including "Phantom," "Forest Gump," "Magnificent Seven," etc.  When they started playing "The Viennese Waltz," everyone really started cheering and they all really smiled.  They knew the audience would especially LOVE that since they are all true Viennese themselves.  I LOVE how the Russians love the arts, music, ballet, etc.  I have tried to be very selective on what we see because Gpa George isn't quite a fan of all opera, all ballet, or long productions of orchestra that he doesn't recognize!  Hah!  But, he's a very good sport, and I think he's enjoyed what I've picked so far!  Seriously, you could go to something every single week if you signed up for everything! 

 Moscow is really beautiful at night.

We took a taxi home and our taxi came on the opposite side of a four-lane road on each side and it would take so long for him to get turned around through all the traffic, so another taxi drive came by and offered to take us.  Neither driver could understand English, so thank goodness for my Google Translate, we got the other taxi driver cancelled, which he still charged us 101 rubles for--about $1.68, which since we pay by cash (they don't like American credit cards), I don't know where he is going to get that from.  Anyway, we tried to tell the new taxi driver we would drive with him for the same price the first taxi driver said we could ride--575 rubles.  He motioned for us to get in.  When we got to our street, we got out and Gpa gave him 1,000 and asked for the change--400 rubles since we would give him a tip.  He wanted to take the whole 1,000 and Gpa George said, "No! (Net!) You agreed to take what the other guy said he would do it for!"  Then Gpa jumped out and went in a store to get change and left me with the angry taxi driver who kept yelling Russian at me!  It seemed like Gpa took forever coming out--there were four people ahead of him in line and all he had to do was buy one item in order to get change--then he finally came out.  He handed it to the driver who was still yelling, and we quickly made our way across the street and made sure he was well on his way before we turned into our apartment.  There is always a lot of excitement here, for sure, especially when you can't converse very well with the language!

Tonight, we are having the YSA Family Home Evening here at our apartment.  I am having cut-up veggies, cheeses, meat, and chocolate chip cookies.  We aren't supposed to provide a meal--just snacks.  Anyway, since I am out of my American chocolate chips until someone next comes here, I'll have to chop up candy bars in order to make my own!  This will indeed be a new experience!

Lastly,  in the time that I'm not in the office helping Gpa with the Area Auditing, I am re-typing a Family History Book that Gpa Jim (Gpa George's dad) and his living brothers and sisters put together in 1971-75.  It is an amazing book and I am putting it on Family Search so that everyone will have a chance to read it.  Without the aid of computers--just on a little old typewriter and going to tax collectors offices, marriage license offices, making many calls and writing who knows how many letters, they have so much information in there that includes many family members who aren't on Family Search and surely would have been forgotten had they not done this.  They truly were such a close family and had such a desire to perpetuate the Copeland Family Legacy and the great pride they took in it.  One story in particular stood out to me.  This was about Jesse Hampton Copeland, the first born child of James Jackson Copeland.  George Fleming Copeland, who our family descended through, was the 12th child, so this happened to his brother.  (As you know, Gpa George was named after this grandfather.)  I am going to put the story exactly as it was recorded in the history:

 Jesse was on a journey, going somewhere on foot.  It was a hot summer day.  He passed a farmer's field filled with water melons.  As was the custom when traveling long distances on foot in those days, he climbed over the rail fence and picked a melon  to quench his thirst.  The owner of the field came upon the scene and condemned him on the spot.  The neighbor was so enraged, there was no power that could reason with him.  So our uncle decided to climb over the fence and go on his way.  As he was in the act of climbing the fence, the neighbor suddenly stabbed him in the back with a knife to the extent that he would later die.  He must have been able to get back home in some way.  Before he died, he told his family the story.  He made a special request that set him apart as someone very special.  His request was, “Please don’t prosecute the neighbor for stabbing me.  I should not have picked his melon.”  Only about one in a thousand would have a heart filled with charity and forgiveness as this.

            How did Uncle Jesse’s family react to this heartless stabbing?  The commendable part is his entire family refrained from condemning the neighbor.  They granted their loved one his last request and left it with a higher power to pass judgment on the neighbor.   In those pioneer days, the law didn’t reach very far.  There were no authorities to notify when there was a death.  There were no morticians.  Whoever was capable, built a pine box for a casket and the loved ones prepared the body for burial.  The commendable thing is the entire family displayed self-control.  Uncle Jesse had brothers from age 30 to age 12.  None of them tried to take revenge on the neighbor.  Two of the younger boys, while walking down the road one day, saw this neighbor on his horse turn into the road from a side road ahead of them.  The small boys had their rifles.  One of them lifted his rifle and took aim, but it was reported that he refrained from firing.  This family story puts the grief-stricken father, the heart-broken widow and mother, and his six-foot-tall brothers on record as law-abiding, peaceful, forgiving people with self-control almost beyond understanding.  There was no evidence of radicalism in this family. Uncle Jesse, the first-born of this large family was forced to give up his life, but by so doing, we have this true story that helps us place more value on our Copeland family.

Wow!  What a story of forgiveness!  It is amazing to me that someone could have that kind of heart to forgive someone else and be able to have a clear conscience when they met the Lord.  Amazing!

Well, better close.  Got to get those chocolate chip cookies made!  We surely love you all!

Gma Laura

P.S.  This past week, they have been trying to scoop up snow and ice that has accumulated for the past two months.  I snapped this pic of these little boys playing on top of the snow.  Kids are the same wherever you go!

And I made Beef stroganoff with some Black Angus hamburger that I had.  Many times, we still find pieces of bone when we eat hamburger, but this time, I got a real surprise!  When I took it out of my mouth, I saw this:

It was probably part of their grinding machine--but the back side was very sharp!  I have been traumatized!

Week 26 - March 19, 2018

Dear Family,

We had a great week having District Meeting on Friday and Relief Society Conference on Saturday where we had about 180 sisters present from all over the Moscow area—some traveling by train over two hours to get there.  We had wonderful speakers, great classes, examples of crafts done by sisters, and we English-speaking sisters sang a beautiful number with piano and flute accompaniment.  As we looked out into the faces of all those Russian sisters, I choked up and could hardly sing.  Although they couldn’t understand the words, you know they felt our spirits!  

On Sunday, Gpa George and I went to the Ramenskoye Branch again, which is 2 1/2 hours each way to get there, but we really LOVE those sweet people, and they really seem to love having us come.  

Entrance to the Ramenskoye Branch.  Most places for our chapels are just rented spaces in office buildings here in Moscow.

We, also, had to do an inspection on the apartment the young Elders who are there for every other week, trading off with another small branch that is so far away, they have another apartment there.  Anyway, we were so impressed with their organization and cleaning ability.  There wasn't a lot of food there--hah!  But they seem to get by just fine on rice, crackers, and some protein powder one of their parents must have gotten to them.  None of the missionaries get fed here in this mission unless they can bring an inactive or non-member with them, so they really don't get fed very regularly.  But their attitude is amazing!  They don't complain!  George said this is why they go when they are young!  We, also, noticed that they are breaking up the huge blocks of ice that we have been walking on for the past two months.  That is such a relief!  It is still like walking on a skating rink in many places, but hopefully soon we can have clear paths.  It is only 17 degrees today, so that may not be very soon! 

 

I have to tell you about a true miracle this week!  Two weeks ago when we were on the metro coming home from the Ramenskoye Branch, we met a young woman who introduced herself and told us she knew English because she had lived in London for about a year and a half working.  She had heard Gpa and me talking.  Anyway, she is married with four children, the oldest is seven.  We enjoyed talking to her so much.  As we left, I just happened to say, “I hope we see you again!”  to which she replied, “If God be willing!”  Seriously though, I thought to myself—20 million people in Moscow!   What are the chances!  Friday, we were in a total different part of the city after District Conference and were waiting for the bus. Suddenly she comes up to us pushing her baby in her carriage.  She says, “Remember when I said, if God be willing?!”  We were so thrilled to see her and talked to her—even missing our bus, but she said, “Maybe we could get together with both of and go to eat sometime!”  She then gave me her telephone number!    We were so excited and knew this was definitely a miracle and look forward to going to dinner with her and her husband. Hopefully besides gaining new friends, we can share with them the most wonderful blessing their family could ever have—the gospel!

We have Zone Conference tomorrow and this Saturday we are going to hear the Vienna Choir, which we are really looking forward to.  We are so proud of Isaac getting the Priesthood this week!  He is going to be just like his brother and cousins who have been such great examples for him and he, too, will do such a great job in his responsibilities.  

Thanks again for everyone's well-wishes and love.  We know we are doing the work the Lord has called us to in the place he wants us to be, but sometimes we get very homesick for all our loved ones and feel like we are missing out on so many important events.  Thankfully, however, you are all so good to send pics and let us know about the events, plus your Skype calls mean everything.  I don't think anyone ever gets over missing family when you're not around them!  But, you are all doing so well and living close to the Lord, which makes Gpa George and me so happy.  Continue to read your Book of Mormon (we should now be on Jacob 2), and stay close to the Lord through daily prayer.  You are all in our prayers daily!  

Love, Gma Laura

PS  We came home yesterday about 4:30, and found we had no WiFi at all.  We tried everything to get it working, then called our landlord who was born in Ukraine, is half Russian-half Jew, and lives here in Russia.  He is the coolest guy ever (about 35 years old!  Anyway, we told him the problem, and he said he would check on it.  He called back to say that the problem wasn't inside the apartment, it is that the internet had a problem on the outside that hopefully would be fixed by 2:00 a.m. this morning.  Amazing that this just so happened on election day in Russia!  Hmmmm!  (He actually pointed this out, too, what we had been thinking!)

PSS  We saw some really cool metros this week--including one that even had art work on the inside!

Week 25 - March 14, 2018

Dear Family, 

Sorry this weekly e-mail is a couple of days late.  We just returned from our Visa trip last night from Stockholm, Sweden, so I had to wait until today to write this.  As most of you know, we must leave Russian every 90 days in order to get a new Visa to come back.  We chose to go to Sweden.  Although it is still cold and they have icy streets there too, we LOVED seeing Stockholm in the  winter time after seeing it in summer about three years ago!  The people are so friendly and most speak English!  I will talk a little more about our experiences there in a minute.

First of all, we had our three-day conference of our Europe East Area Assistant Area Auditing Training this past week on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  Gpa George and I have worked so hard to get it all organized--especially George.  He had to arrange for so many people to be involved and planned a wonderful two-day agenda.  Then, we were dropped an unbelievable set-back--since it is International Women's Day around the world, we didn't realize how seriously the people took that here.  We hadn't set the date for this conference as it was already set up by Salt Lake before we got here.  Anyway, we found out both Thursday and Friday there would be no one in the office--which we could handle that--but in addition, all electricity would be turned off for maintenance--and we couldn't handle doing the conference in the dark.  Moving the meeting was quite out of the question because there just isn't anyplace else that we could hold this that had all the set up that we needed for the conference without going out and renting something on such short notice, even if we could find something that was reasonably priced.  So, George and I decided we would do it all in one day!  

Although it made for a long day, we had the guest speakers, discussion groups, videos, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, there.  We started at 9:00 a.m. and finished about 7:30 p.m.  We tried to provide breaks and change things up quite a bit so it wouldn't just be speakers, and I actually think, with the help of the Lord, it all turned out so well!  There was such a good feeling among all those attended, and I know, I for one, truly benefited from it.  Gpa George centered everything around "Teaching in the Savior's Way," because we are definitely more than auditors--we are teaching skills, but more than that, we are trying to help build testimonies and help the members involved feel the Spirit of the Lord in their service and callings.  It was a beautiful theme that was carried out so well. 

Since we couldn't have the second day of the conference, we spent the next two days taking the visitors who had come in from the Siberian Region, Ukraine, and Salt Lake City, on some tours of the beautiful downtown area of Moscow--including Red Square and the Kremlin.  They apologized that we were going to places that we had already seen--we told them not to feel sorry for us.  We LOVE seeing everything there again and again and sharing experiences with those who are seeing it all for the first time!  It never grows old!

We said good-bye to everyone on Friday night, then left Saturday morning for Stockholm.  After arriving, we took off exploring Gamla Stan--the old part of the city of Stockholm.  

There are so many streets and alleyways just filled with fascinating little shops, cobblestone streets, and colorful buildings.  The Swedes LOVE the colors of yellow and orange!  Almost every building, still, is either one of these colors or a variation thereof.  We laughed so hard when we went into a little shop and met the young storekeeper who was watching the Warriors-Trail Blazers game, which had been played the night before, so George knew the outcome and said how sad he was that they lost!  "Oh, no," the kid said!  "I've been so excited to watch this and didn't know the outcome, and you've now told me who won!"  Gpa George felt so bad!  But the kid was really a good sport about it, and even let us take a pic  of him watching the game!  We told the Wildes that yes, there are huge Warrior fans even in Sweden!

On Sunday, we took a 30-minute train ride from central Station in Stockholm and arrived at the Chapel very near the Stockholm Temple  It almost felt like we were back in the states!  There were so many families and people filling the chapel and clear back in the recreation hall.  Relief  Society had 36 women! 

Then we walked back to the temple--so beautiful and in such a gorgeous setting.

 We had lunch in a little cafe, which we had heard about from some of the other Moscow Senior Couples who had gone there, and definitely had to try some of the pastries!  What a fantastic day!

Monday was really quite a day!  We first went on a scenic bus tour all around the city, then transferred to a boat and went out a little ways to see some of the many islands around Stockholm.  It is called the "Venice of the North," and you can certainly see why because of all the water, bridges, and archipelagos--(I had to look it up--a group of small islands.)  Gpa George and I will never forget coming in on the cruise ship a few years ago when everything was so green and beautiful.  Now, it was foggy and snowy, but still beautiful in its own way.  Many of the places were shut down for the winter.  

After the boat trip, we had heard from the guide on the boat that this was Victoria Day, so something was going on at the  Royal Palace to honor Crown Princess Victoria.  We just happened to be very near there, so we went and got in line and got to enter the Royal Courtyard where we saw different troops and horse guards all come in, while the Royal Band was playing.  Then Princess Victoria, her husband Prince Daniel, and their darling little six-year-old girl walked in and stood on a raised platform while the band played three different numbers.  That little girl stood right there through it all and was sooo good.  Flowers were presented to Crown Princess Victoria, then to our great thrill, the three of them went around and greeted as many visitors there as possible.  We just happened to be right on the front next to the rope barricade!  What a thrill!  When we came in front of us, Gpa George told her that we were Americans there to wish her well.  I was so excited to record it, and then while still recording, I told her how wonderful I thought it was that her little girl, Princess Estelle, (who will be next in line for the throne after her mother) had stood there the whole time, being so good.  She is only six years old!  I'm sure because of the cold (and probably because of his age), the two-year-old Prince Oscar, wasn't with them.  She seemed pleased that I would compliment her on her little girl and that we were there to wish her well from America.    How exciting to meet a real princess!  George was such a good sport!  It was absolutely freezing and we stood on ice for over an hour--my hands were so cold that the buttons on my camera would hardly work, but George knows how much I LOVE learning about royalty, and this just couldn't have been any better!

Tuesday,  after breakfast at the hotel, we boarded a bus for about 45 minutes and headed for the airport.  The plane ride is only about 1 hour 50 minutes back to Moscow.  So, we were back home ready to start a new day tomorrow!

Well, that's our week.  We send our LOVE to all and hope you are all doing well.  This week, we will be excited to wish a Happy Birthday to Isaac on Thursday and Kent on Friday!

Love, Gma Laura