Week 43 - July 16, 2018

Dear Family,

Right now, I have a huge lump in my throat thinking about Carter coming home today!  Wow!  This is when it is so terribly hard to be so far away--we have now missed 1 new grandchild's birth, 1 new great-grandchild's birth, 2 grandchildren baptisms, 1 grandson's marriage, 2 granddaughter's high school graduations, and of course, many other times when I would just like to sit down with my own family for a family meal, have a fun family activity, or just observe as you all live your daily lives!  It seriously brings me to tears at times.  But let me tell you about all we have been so blessed to be a part of.  I want to share an e-mail we just got yesterday from Valdimir, who is absolutely one of the cheeriest persons I know, has very little money, comes all by himself to church and goes home after Sacrament Meeting, but is there to take care of the Sacrament every single week.  He always asks Gpa George to pass and is now encouraging him to learn the entire Sacrament prayer in Russian, which Gpa George has started doing.  Not an easy task, but he is determined to do it!  Here is his e-mail to us:

Dear Mister and Mistress (I really had to smile at that!) Copeland.

We are trully gratefull to You for everything you do in Russia.  You are the Lighthouse/beacon and The Blessing to us for Russia.  We appreciate Your Positive Attitude and service a lot and keep You in the sweet Heart.  

May The Lord Bless You in every field you touch.

Vladimir & Elena

PS  July is our 20 years jubilee

Then he included a few pictures of him and his wife celebrating their 20 years of marriage.  As I say, we have never seen her.  You can't believe how many part-member or part-active families are in our Russian Ward.  She looks beautiful and we hope to someday meet her.  We are going to try to get them over to our house for dinner or something special. 

I, also, included a picture of him with Gpa George on Sunday.  He put on Gpa George's suit coat and said, "Now, I am Elder Copeland!"  George actually had a hard time getting it back from him.  Without offending him, I hope we can help him get a suit coat sometime.

Anyway, just thought I would include it.  I feel that if we can make a difference in a few people's lives while we are here, we will just keep trying and knowing that we were called here for a reason.  We have been so blessed to meet so many wonderful Russian people, and we have gained a real love for the Russian people.  It is just so sad that it is governments that fight, not the regular, average person.  

Saturday (our P-day) we went with a few other Senior couples on an hour bus ride away to the town of Isra to visit the New Jerusalem Monastery.  It was started in 1656, meant to replicate the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and be a place for pilgrimages.  After it was majorly destroyed in 1941 by the Germans, it had to be renovated.  Today it is beautiful and many visitors go there.  We climbed to the highest part of the rotunda--it was literally breath-taking with so many steps and scary to look down, but so worth it!  We had such a great day!  

The Cooks, Limbs, Carlisles, and Brinkerhoffs, along with us.  Susan Harris, also, went (her husband was unable to go), but was taking this pic, so she wasn't in the picture.

You see this often--below the cross is a skull and or bones.  This is meant to symbolize that from Adam came death, from Jesus Christ who died on the cross came the resurrection.

There are a total of 29 chapels located in this monastery. 

This is one of the Orthodox saints.  Her arm is located in the box below her picture.

This was our tour guide--a volunteer, who is actually an attorney and was so friendly and kind to us.  His English wasn't perfect, but not bad!

This little chapel was for John the Baptist.  An icon with the picture of his head on it was above the door.

This chapel was built for Constantine and his mother, St. Helena.  Always to the right of the doors that go back into the altar is Jesus Christ and on the left is the Mother Mary.  Then St. Helena is to the right of Christ, and Constantine is to the left of Mary.  Helena, whose son, Constantine, was the Emperor of Rome, toured and named all of the sites in the Holy Land that are commemorated today in Christ's life.

Walking up the 33 stairs from the Chapel of Constantine and St. Helena--symbolizing the number of years Christ lived as a mortal on earth.

A cross built to the same dimensions as the cross Christ was placed on.  Three holes in front symbolize where the three crosses were placed on the Hill at Golgotha.

Just as in Jerusalem, this was built to show the Tomb where Christ's body laid, with a huge rotunda over it that was built by Constantine.  This rotunda is much more bright with the many windows above than the one in Jerusalem. 

Our guide allowed us to climb higher and higher in the rotunda.  It was tiring, but so worth it!

We had eaten a picnic lunch at noon outside on the green grass.  After our tour, we tried to find a place to eat, but didn't find anything, so we waited until we got back to Moscow and ate at a wonderful hamburger place that we didn't even know existed right near the metro exit.

Again, such a blessing to have the many cultural experiences and historical learning involved.  It is just like going to college again!  

Tonight, we have the YSA Family Home Evening here in our apartment, so I need to get ready for that.  It is always done in Russian, but usually there are a few who will translate for us.  I just have to have a clean place (Hah!) and refreshments.  Then on Wednesday, we are going to the Beryeska Dance Group performance in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall.  I am really looking forward to that!  Those are the Russian dancers who take tiny steps, and it looks like they are floating across the floor.  On Thursday, is our granddaughter, Jenna's birthday.  So proud of Jenna for finishing her Young Women in Excellence Award, for graduating from high school this year, and for getting ready for college.  She is such a beautiful young lady with such a bright future.  One thing for sure, she will always be surrounded by friends! 

Next Monday, we fly to Yerevan, Armenia, to do audits with the AAA from here in Moscow.  They don't have enough Priesthood Holders to do them, so we help out every six months there.  We will be there four days, then fly to Turkey to do the audits there, also, since they have taken out all the missionaries.  We will just be going in as tourists.  We will finally return to Moscow on August 3rd.  Another real blessing--seeing so many different countries and going to places that I probably would never have thought about going.  

So, you see, I have tears of joy about my family, and I, also, have tears of joy for this mission we are serving.  Gpa George and I are so touched by so many of you saying you are praying for us daily.  That means so much to us.  I know the Lord is watching out for us.  I only hope we can do all that he expects of us while we are serving here so that we can come home and say just like our four (almost five!) grandsons have said that they gave it their all while they served!

We, also, want our sister-in-law, Sandy, to know that she is in our prayers.  We certainly hope and pray for her.  She is having a kidney removed because they found it to be cancerous.  She is such a sweet, positive person who we love so much!  May the Lord bless you, Sandy!  

We, also, continue to pray for our little great-grandson, Otteson, that he will continue to grow and get stronger.  Being only 2 lbs. 12 oz. at birth, he has a little ways to go, but he is getting so much love and attention from his wonderful parents, with continuous prayers, we hope it won't take too long before he can be going home.

With much love,  Gma Laura