Dear Family,
Today, we are on our way to Madrid for our Visa Trip, returning Saturday morning. Who knows? If our assignment changes, this may be the last one we get to take. Visa trips have actually been a very positive thing in that we have been able to go out to a temple every 90 days: Helsinki, Finland; Stockholm, Sweden; Bern, Switzerland; and now Madrid, Spain.
We just got our Mission President’s Weekly Letter. They are now requiring that every single member of the church in Russia sign a letter of release that the church can store information about them. That is going to be quite the task because as you know, in your own wards, many people have moved or no one knows anything about them. This will surely cut down the number of members in the church here. Sooo many restrictions.
Yesterday at church, four young Africans from Ghana came to church who actually spoke English. They lived about two hours by train outside of Moscow and heard about the church through one of the Sister volunteers out there. They had gotten up at 6:00 am, traveled clear in to Moscow, intending to make the International Ward which meets at 9:00, but as you know, Kent and NATAlie, our meeting area is not the easiest to find, and they had walked around and around with no contact number, just an address, which seemed impossible to find. Finally, when they did, it was time for our Russian speaking ward, so they came and used headphones. Amazing that they just didn’t give up trying to find the meeting house! That shows real diligence!
Anyway, they said they were brothers—not sure if blood brothers, but they said they had no parental support. I don’t know why they chose to come to Russia, but they said they have been here for four months and need a job if they are going to be able to stay. One was a member and the other three had taken the lessons in Ghana, but quite some time ago, so they had forgotten a lot. Anyway, the AP invited Gpa George and me in to teach the four of them with him. The thing we find difficult usually is that we can’t say much because of the language barrier. This time, we were able to practically lead the whole discussion. It was so fun to see them excited about the Book of Mormon as we talked about that and how it is the Stick of Joseph, so it correlates with what happened in the Bible, the Stick of Judah, and is another witness for Christ. They were thrilled when they each got a copy. When the AP asked at the end if the three were willing to commit to baptism, they all said, we wouldn’t put all this time and effort into finding out about the church if we didn’t. It was between the Jehovah Witnesses or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and we feel this is the right way to go. Anyway, we LOVED the feeling of helping to teach and testify of the truthfulness if the gospel. We hope to have more experiences like this.
Last weekend, we were able to attend the Music Festival and Military Tattoo at Red Square. I had been looking forward to it for the past 11 months. It was definitely one of the highlights of being in Russia! Bands and dancing groups from all over the world participated with pyrotechnics, fantastic music, beautiful weather, and great company. About 10 Senior couples went. We ate at Shake Shack on Old Arbat Street before—reminded us all of being back home!
Eating at Shake Shack with the Seniors
Then on Saturday, just two couples went to the Re-Enactment of the 1812 Battle of Borodino. With exact military uniforms, cannons, volunteers living the way of life at that time in tents, lots of horses, and getting a chance to talk as much as broken English and broken Russian could handle with the volunteers of the enactment, we had a great time. It seemed the men volunteers all wanted Gpa to have some vodka with them. He kept saying, “Nyet (No), and then asked if they had any grits. “What are grits?” one asked. Gpa said, “Crushed corn.” One lifted his glass of vodka and said, “Made of corn, too!” We really laughed! They all were so nice and we had a great day!
Well, we are soon landing in Riga, Latvia, then changing planes for Madrid. Traveling is sooo hard, isn’t it?! But, it’s always worth it when you get to your destination. Sort of like life, right?! Life isn’t always easy, but by not getting lost along the way and staying on the path we need to be, it will all be worth it in the end. Right?!
We pray for Sandy’s (Dwayne’s wife) continual good recuperation. We surely LOVE her—she’s always so positive snd such a sweet spirit!
Love to all,
Gma Laura
Ps. We just got off the plane in Madrid and we had a message from the Europe Area travel person who says he needs to contact us to help us get moved!!! It really is going to happen, it appears!
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