Elder & Sister Simmons Russia Journal

The Last . . . April 25, 2010

2010-05-12T15:12:00.002+07:00

Weather -- warming, overcast
Temp -- 55 F
Wind -- 5-7 mph

We are doing a lot of "Lasts" as we get ready for our exit. Two Sundays ago we spoke in 1st Branch as our last appearance in that branch. I spoke on callings and she spoke on listening to the Spirit. That week the McCauleys (our replacements) came. They stayed in the Mission Home for the first three days and then moved in with us. It is a long-term sleepover and a little complex getting ready in the morning, but they are very compatible and just plain nice people.

(This was started while at home but from here on it was completed on the airplane and not posted until May 11th after we had been home for a week and gotten totally unpacked.)

Today begins a series of "LASTS", the last metro to Zoloni Kupola, the last YSA fireside, the last choir practice, etc.

At the 1st Branch Sacrament Meeting we also had a first. The young couple, Alexe and Marina, who have been taught in our home at least 5 times, were both in the meeting with their little boy. Alexe had attended several times alone, but this was the first time Marina had come because she didn't want to bring the little one out in the cold. They are very attentive parents. We had intended to escort the McCauleys' via Metro to the 2nd Branch meetings and then spend some time at the office before returning to the building for choir practice and the "last" YSA fireside, but upon hearing that this couple was in the 1st Branch meeting, Sister Cindy insisted that we stay to support them. It was a good choice.

After the second set of meetings, we just stayed for choir practice at 5 and the Fireside at 6:30. I did not conduct, but sang with the choir and let Sister McCauley get her feet wet. We were preparing for an event that was to be the next Saturday, the 1st of May, to celebrate the Church's 180th birthday, but as it turned out, the event was canceled due to lack of interest. She did a great job and will work into the role with time.

The last YSA fireside was a tribute to us. They prepared a "Newly-weds" type game inwhich I was to answer questions that Cindy answered to see if our answers were the same. It was cute, but sort of dated. We all had fun and I got most of them right.

This game was preceded by two talks, Julia (from the office) talked about friends coming and going and how important friends are. Ina spoke about something that I cannot remember, possibly because Elder Petersen had to translate it for us and I just got lost. After the game we both spoke for just a couple of minutes and it closed with "Love one another" from the hymnal.

Many of the young people came up to get their picture taken with us only after the refreshment table was pretty-much emptied; typical. Here, Yulia from the office held it together for most of the event, then lost it at the final goodbye. We sure love her. She is a very bright light in a dark place and I hope that she can find joy in the things she can do in the Gospel. She seems to be waiting for a missionary who left from our city and should return early next year. I really hope that it all works out for her happiness.

Monday was the last full day at the office where we took the lead. The staff gave us a bon-voyage party and a lacquer-box which was very lovely. They didn't have to do that, but we truely appreciated the centiment and the gift. We have had a good relationship with all of them over the past 2 years and I am sure we will think of them often as we try to get back to life in America.

Monday night we had the last visit with the Ozherelev's. We played Hand and Foot with the 6 of us and had a very tearful goodbye with them, particularly Lenna who had grown very close to Sister Cindy. She was very sad as she delivered the last of the sewing work she had done for Cindy. We will miss them every day and I know that as of today I think of them often each day. The separation is as painful and full of feelings as it would be with a family member, After all, they were family for two years and remain so.

Tuesday I got up at 6AM to be ready for President to pick us up with our luggage at 7:30. I looked out our 9th floor window at the scene below on Sacco & Vanzetti Street with its pot-holes and water still running from the last ice melting along the way. A street sweeper was slowly moving along, picking up the sand in the road from the previous winter ice treatment. I looked up at the blue sky with its summer haze from the power plants on the left bank across the river was just laying in. I took the last shower in or cracked tub, started the last load of wash (the sheets from our bed), plugged in the Christmas Tree for the last time in the "shrine", waist-high shelf in my corner shelf unit, and it all seemed very final.

At the office we took pictures with everyone. Here are our office elders, Elder Barwick on the left and Elder Byers in the center, whom we love very much and will miss deeply. Elder Byers was the one who wrote the verse to the Mission song that I put together. He is a talented musician and I hope to keep up with his career post mission. Elder Barwick is also a talented singer and the two of them make great music. I feel very close to both of these elders.

We had the my last Mission Presidency Meeting where I had Elder McCauley take over completely (He did marvelously well). Here we are reviewing items on the agenda that he will prepare weekly.

We participated in the last Office Coordination Meeting where the old issues remain and the McCauleys pick up the baton. They are diplomatic and careful to keep everyone engaged. I expect them to be very effective in that regard.

Here Sister McCauley is receiving the keys and cell phone from Sister Cindy. These are they symbols and the actual tools of the job she will have to pick up. Sister Cindy leaves big shoes to fill, but I think she and Elder McCauley will make their own mark on the mission.

We finally had our last interview with the President. He said some very kind things about us and how he would miss us. He has a great burden to carry with the Millers gone, our leaving, and the Holmes going in May. We love him and Sister Trejo very much and pray for them nightly even now.

That night we went to the Mission Home with the other departing missionaries for the last time. We had the final meal of Taco Salad, the traditional tie cutting off for the marriage predictions, got our Green Berets, Cindy and I sang two songs, and the final Testimony meeting before heading to bed and the 3:30 AM wake-up call.

ister Zhernova got the bunk-bed room, the Elders got the great room, and Cindy and I had the General Authority room, same room where we slept that first morning 23 months ago when we sat and cried together, asking the Lord and each other how we were ever going to do this.

Now, for all practical purposes, it is finished and with the Lord's help we served with our might. We hope it was enough.

What a mission. What a country
DS

ZLC Sleepover March 23rd

2010-04-23T01:39:00.000+07:00

Weather was COLD
Temp -- minus 10 F
Wind 7-15 mph

Zone Leader Conference runs from 5pm one night to 3pm the next day. Zone leaders come from all of the cities in the mission to get instructions and discuss challenges they face in their cities. We often house some of them overnight between sessions of the conference.

After the first night of this ZLC we were to house 6 elders and so we all went down to the garage at the mission home together in the elevator to get the offered ride from President Trejo. The first challenge of this event was getting stuck in the elevator for 40 minutes.

After the building manager called someone to rescue us, they had to jack up the elevator car to the proper level so the door could open, we got our ride as promised.

We have only two actual beds in the extra bed room so the other four had to be creative. It has become a bit of a status symbol to get your name on the "Simmons Wall of Fame" and so those who have not slept here are anxious to do so before we are released and leave for home.

We started this wall shortly after we arrived when we needed to house a sick sister so that her companion could continue to work with a member as her companion. We got her to put her name on the wall and it grew from there. We have several notables, a couple of semi-notables, and three almosts. The notables include some people from the Moscow service center, the Masons who did audit training and the Kirbishly's who headed a program for returned missionaries. We also had several long-termers like the Bowdens who stayed more than twenty nights and our friend Lelia from South Dakota who was the only one of our friends to actually come and visit us in Siberia. We also had several sisters stay over, Sister Tymochko stayed a week for some reason that I forget and several transient sisters stayed one night.

And then there were the "almosts" like Elder McBride who never stayed overnight but DID take a nap in the room one day and Elder Hinkson who never actually laid down in the guest room, but napped on our couch after three different ZLC events while waiting for his bus.

This particular night we had three in the bed room, two on beds and one on a foam pad. In the living room we had the other three on the couch, the pull-out bed and another foam pad. Here they are trying to decide who will sleep where. We suspended the rules and gave all of them room on the wall so that was eliminated from the discussion.

With the sleeping spots apportioned by some time-honored tradition like "Rock, Paper, Scissors" they are ready for the sack.

Our office elders just don't get a chance to get their names on the wall because they live just a few blocks from us. It is a status they will not achieve, but they are high on our list of great elders. They help us, protect us, support us, carry our groceries up the stairs, and call our taxis. We could not ask for more from them, but if we did they would perform. We love our office elders.

All is well now among our 6 elders and the night passed peacefully. We enjoy having them and make every effort to make them comfortable and happy. Life for a missionary in Siberia is tough enough and we can only soften the edges. We pray for them all each morning and night for their safety and success.

What a great bunch of young men. What a country.
DS

The Siberian Battalion Hymn 4/20/2010

2010-04-20T22:19:00.007+07:00

Weather -- Clearing and warmer
Temp -- 60F at 6PM
Wind -- 10-12 mph

Sometime last year, Sister Trejo said at Zone Leaders Council that she wished that someone would write a song for the mission. I encouraged several of our musically inclined missionaries to contribute, but no one brought forward an offering. Finally, I decided to try my hand and began to write some lyrics. I finally got Elder Byers to write the verses and we put it together. I rehearsed the background to my song in a letter to President and Sister Trejo and wrote this introduction to the sheet music I gave to the missionaries. I hope it has "legs".

The Siberian Battalion Hymn

Words by Elder Douglas Simmons and Elder Alex Byers
Melody taken from “Highland Cathedral” by Ulrich Roever and Michael Korbn
Written and Compiled for the Siberian Battalion in April, 2010

The Inspiration for this song came from three sources. First, the melody itself, a popular bagpipe song called “Highland Cathedral”, second, a scripture in Jeremiah found by Earl Taylor, an old friend of the Simmons before they left home, and, third, the reference to young lions in Isaiah and 2 Nephi.
(Jeremiah16: 16) – Speaking of the gathering of Israel in the last days. "Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
(2 Nephi 15:29) – Speaking of the Lord in the last days . . ." And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly: Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe and none shall deliver it."

The words of the chorus are sung first and repeated between the verses, ending with the chorus one more time. Elder Simmons wrote the chorus and Elder Byers wrote the verses. Other verses should be added by later generations of the Siberian Battalion.

We are the (Elders or Sisters) of Siberia.
We are the young lions Isaiah saw.
We are the hunters who have come ‘afar,
Searching out all of scattered Israel.

Verse
Called of God by a prophet’s voice
We take shield of faith in hand, swift to the fray.
Armed with perfect obedience
Ready to serve we stand.

Chorus

Like the army of Helaman
We know we do not fight alone. We will not fail
With God as our strength and Christ our light
We bring brothers and sisters home.

Chorus and end

Below is a video of the Novosibirsk and Novokuznetsk Zones singing the new song with Sister McCauley playing the piano. It is a little slower than it would normally be sung, but she was sight-reading it and we took it easy. The first time we sang it, we used a recording of the original song with bagpipes and band. It was very energetic. I love the pipes.

I am happy that this melody was enjoyed by those in the meeting and maybe it would catch on as the mission song. I guess that story will have to come out of some reunion because we are going home and I will never know if they picked it up.

What a song. What a country.
DS

The Packing Monster

2010-04-20T20:26:00.001+07:00

Weather -- High overcast warming
Temp -- +60F
Wind 15-25 mph

Packing to go home is a monster. It haunts you for weeks and then you finally have to face it. How can I defeat this monster? Is it possible? Can I actually get my clothes, shoes, coats, books, music, nesting dolls, wooden shot glass, paintings, love gifts from members, cosmetics, bathing suit (which I never wore), white shirts that are now two sized too big, two year old suits that I love but hang like a gunnysack on me, two years worth of YSA Fireside lessons and Sacrament Meeting talks, DVD's, alfalfa seeds I didn't sprout, sprouting trays, Porterhouse Seasoning Sister Cindy didn't consume, Levies and three casual shirts I never wore, six backup name tags I never wore, twenty pair of shoes sister Cindy never wore, etc.

How do you plan your needs for two years in a place you have never even heard of let alone have been to? And now, what do you take home of what you never used because "It's still good and we might need it, some day"? It was a daunting challenge to guess and then pack, ship, or ask from home things you imagine you will need, or thought you still needed? The truth is, and I hope that we have learned to some degree, that we don't need ALL THIS STUFF!!!! However, you DO need a stain-stick once in a while and a bandaide or two, but come on, we are leaving several suitcases of stuff to the locals because we just can't take it home.

Whether here in Novosibirsk or in Sacramento, we really don't need most of the stuff we have. We have lived for 18 of the 23 with the knowledge that you just don't need much stuff. A couple pair of shoes, warm-weather clothes, cold weather clothes, and your scriptures; that's it. Well, maybe a bit of an overstatement, but truly, we didn't need most of what we brought, shipped, or had shipped to us here. For those of you planning a mission; leave most of your stuff at home. You won't need or have time to use most of what you bring. You need your sweats and apron for watching General Conference two week late on the DVD, you need

a warm coat so you can make the trip out to the dumpster on the street without suffering frostbite, but mostly you need to bring with you your life-long skills, a little of what you learned in Primary and Sunday School, and a genuine love for people. I brought my love for music, in spite of my lack to technical skills, and was appreciated for what I DID have.

People are the best part of every mission. Well, I haven't been on every mission, I haven't even been on any mission away from home but this one, but I have a deep sense of love and loss at leaving the people here and I suspect that the people (missionaries and members) are the core of every missionary service experience. Our replacements, the McCauleys from Eagle Idaho are already learning this. Sure, there are cultural clashes and outright disappointments, but as a whole, it is a great experience.

If you want to be really loved, serve a mission. If you want to really love, deeply love, serve a mission. If you are lonely, serve a mission. If you think that no one knows you exist and you could suffer spontaneous combustion at your local mall in total anonymity, serve a mission. If you think no one needs what you know or have, serve a mission.

It is the most enveloping, consuming, loving thing that I have ever done and after I say hi to my children and grand-kids, tell some stories to my friends, and we decide what to do with our house, I am ready to go again. OK, I will enjoy one season of really ripe tomatoes and peas picked fresh, but trust me, you don't need all that stuff and the place to put your stuff, and the locks to protect your stuff, and the dog to guard your stuff, and the insurance to replace your stuff. Dump it all and come serve missions.

Most of the people you know will miss you only when they get your emails. Once you are gone, they will go on with their lives and do whatever is in front of them; even your family. You are a nice memory and they are happy to see you again when you return, but not like the people that you left in the mission. Of course, it is very cool to have your grand parents on a mission somewhere, but the people in the mission, THEY ACTUALLY NEED YOU. They actually benefit from your being there.They don't have 26 other things they could and should be doing while they are with you; they NEED you.

Don't get me wrong, please. I love my friends and my family. They are a great treasure. I love the time I have, and will again, spend with them. The point is, they don't need me. In the mission field, the new friends, the missionaries, the members, the investigators, the mission leadership, even the people you can't talk to; they need me (us) and I feel that love that comes from a met need.

Yes, even those that cannot talk to us, nor we to them, have come up at church with tears in their eyes and thanked us for being here and expressed their love. Babushkas with a long history in the Church here try to thank us for just being here. They have seen missionary couples come and go, but they actually value us. They need our example, our experience, and our support. We have not had many of them in our home and can only say a brief hello at church to most of them, but they value our being here. Families like the Drachyov family give us all they have and we feel filled. When we think that our apartment is a little, well a lot, shabby, we visit a family like this and appreciate what we have, even here. What they have they value and what they value they share.

So, now what? Well, we will try to vanquish the packing monster and get each of our two 50 lb checked bags to actually weigh 50 lbs, well, maybe 70 lbs for one of them. We will get the matryoshska dolls and the scarves, and the pictures, and the unused alfalfa seeds into the luggage and we will go home for a while; but not for ever. Maybe I will get soft and comfortable at home and forget these feelings. Maybe I will loose these memories of those we have learned to love and forget how it felt, maybe, but right now I don't think so. I intend to print these two years of blogs into a book and keep it out to remind me. I guess we will just have to see.

What an experience. What a country.

Remonting the Office 4/12/10

2010-04-12T23:04:00.000+07:00

Weather -- Heavy cloud cover, snow
Temp -- 31F at 11:15 AM
Wind -- 2-3 MPH

Two weeks ago they started to remodel the Library room into an office for the employees, Olga and Pyotr, make a conference room for meetings, and create a larger entry/waiting area for visiting missionaries and guests to give them space and keep them from wandering around the office and impeding the work.

This project started a year ago when two of the employees' supervisors came for a visit and said that all employees, including the accountant, needed to be together in a single area. That idea was rejected by President Mickelsen and seemed to die, but here the wishes of a superior do not die easily.

The idea surfaced several times during the ensuing year until a couple of months ago when Sasha Ozherelev announced that the library was going to be converted to offices and only a small supply of the materials from it would be stored in my old work area and the space formerly occupied by the copier, fax, and supply cabinet while the majority of it would be stored in shelves newly constructed at the Left-Bank chapel where Sasha has his office. This is several miles away, would require longer-range planning/control, would mean Sister Gushchina would have to work in both places, and would take most of her stuff out of her control.

Sacha made the drawings, he and President Trejo agreed on the plan and Sister Gushina was surprised when instructed to move her supplies out of the library in a hurry for the construction to begin in a couple of days. Sister Cindy and I did not know that she had such a short time to act on those instructions or that she needed help, and we missed an opportunity to support our friend; not good. No one offered to help her and only the office elders came to her rescue quite by accident because they happened to be working late and saw she was in trouble. It was very unfortunate.

After the rush to move out, Julia was finally brought into the discussion and pointed out some flaws in the plan which caused plan B to emerge. Olga and Pyotr didn't like that one and plan C was born. Sister Gushchina didn't like any of the plans, but that didn't have much impact on anybody. Each successive plan was rejected by one of the parties and finally President said, enough! Get it done and get my office back in operation.

The construction is a week underway and will take at least another week. The limited supplies are being stored along the hallway, sorted and reorganized; some staying and some going. The branch supplies are under Sister Gushchina's care in the old paper supply area and the mission and office supplies will be under Sister McCauley's care in my old work space; and it is a bit of a shambles. Pyotr has a "ton" of public affairs stuff that he hasn't used in years that will have to go somewhere else; maybe under his desk.

Several lessons can come out of this. One of the big ones is how you merge two cultures within the Church. You need to either make your best decision and ignore the discontent as has characterized Russia for centuries or involve all the players from the start and negotiate the best plan you can manage. Either way, someone will not like it, but in the latter case it will not be a surprise and no one can say they were not consulted.

Change is difficult and in this mixture of Russian and American attitudes towards authority, planning, and change it is doubly difficult. I missed several opportunities to help Sasha in this process by not interfering in his job. If I had it to do again I would learn from that mistake. Regardless, the project should be finished by month's end and everyone will move forward.

What a country.
DS

Let's Speak Russian Correctly

2010-04-11T17:18:00.003+07:00

Weather -- Clear, warming, high occasional clouds
Temp -- 43F at 11:30 pm
Wind -- Calm

I would not recognize the signs, but the missionaries tell me that there are signs in the Metro cars encouraging people to speak Russian properly. The signs read, "Let's speak Russian correctly" and give the reader some examples of words often mispronounced or misused. The sign then gives the proper pronunciation or usage and encourages the reader to be more respectful of the mother tongue and take the time to speak properly.

This is an example of the pride Russians take in their language and an indication of how seriously they take it. On the other hand, I have found that my friends here are very tolerant with the missionaries and myself when we try to speak Russian. I think there is a strong pride in being able to speak Russian at all and particularly to speak it properly.

Today we took the McCauleys on a shopping tour to several markets and a mall. Yulia, the 20-something accountant came with us along with President Yuri Gushchin, our driver. Yulia is a terrific young lady, beautiful in appearance and spirit. We love her and will miss her a lot.

While waiting in the checkout line we were all saying "привет" (previet) and "здравствуйте" (zdrasfitya) which are all forms of "hello". Yulia turned to me and quite seriously said, " The baby does not speak Russian yet". You and I would say, " The baby does not speak yet", but for her it was important that the baby did not speak Russian yet.

I love this genuine interest and pride in speaking their language and doing so properly. As I tell Sister Cindy all of the time, "Words have meaning" and we need to use them properly. I am so sick of "thingey" and "stuff" and "way" (as in way cool). I even heard an elder at English Club teaching the conjugation of the word "way" as in "It is way cold", "Yesterday it was wayer cold" and "Tomorrow will be the wayest cold ever". Things have names, words have proper uses, meaning comes from agreed usage, and they all contribute to communication.

Thanks to whoever put up the signs and to the effort it promotes. That was way cool.
What a country.
DS

The Problem with Dunkin' Cookies

2010-04-04T20:53:00.001+07:00

Weather --Light snow and overcast
Temp -- plus 39F
Wind --light 3-5 mph

The mission office is a mixture of solemn seriousness interspersed with goofy laughter. We need the laughter to break the tension caused by some pretty serious issues we deal with every day, all day, like when Elder So-and-so came back from his visa renewal trip and threw away his airline ticket before surrendering his passport to Olga to get registered in Novosibirsk. That ticket is necessary to prove that he actually CAME into the country and without it, he could be deported, fined, or jailed for being here illegally, or, when Sister Whats-her-name didn't notice that the passport check officer in the Moscow airport port-of-entry didn't stamp her passport and she is now in the country without proof of legal entry, or, when the elders in Barnaul on their way home after English Club got beat-up by a gang of young thugs, or, the time the two Elders who went to Astana, Kazakhstan for a visa renewal couldn't get their Russian visas from the embassy because of a series of unfortunate events and were stranded there for over two weeks in the care of a Humanitarian Couple. Well, you get the idea.

To break the tension, we have to laugh from time to time. Above, one of the elders got a package from home and among the other emergency essentials the family sent there was a set of Ninja Turtle masks. I came around the corner into the "computer room" to find them sporting the masks and quoting Ninjaturtleisms to one another from the TV show that they thought quite funny.

In between emergencies, Sister Cindy laughs a lot in the office with the staff, especially with the elders, (she really enjoys them) but I rarely catch her in a real gaffaugh. However, twice I happened to be on scene when she really lost it and I caught it on camera.

Some time in late November of 2008 she and her Travel Secretary Elder Watson were talking about something and his cell phone rang. For some reason she had to answer a question regarding the call and took his phone. (Not so funny yet, right?)

Above, as I sat around the corner with my camera, he is trying to explain what happened in a somewhat calm, collected manner while Sister Cindy is convulsing with laughter across the isle.

It seems that when she finished the call, they were laughing about something and they both got distracted while she was handing back the phone. He didn't get a good grip on it and it fell between them. Watching it fall, she adroitly extended her foot to keep it from falling on the floor and timed it just right to actually give it a good soccer kick and sent it flying in five pieces.

For some reason that struck both of them funny and they lost it. I was busy working my stubby fingers to the bone, with my camera in hand, and came around the corner into the foyer to see what was so funny. As they tried to explain it they both lost it again. While Elder Watson reassembled the phone she continued to laugh.

Incident number two, Sister Cindy likes to dunk her cookie in milk. One Family Night when we had the elders and their investigator over for dinner, FHE, and the requisite game, she served some homemade chocolate chip cookies and provided herself, and all who wished to dunk, a cup of milk. She likes the wide opening of the cup because she can get a good dunk and not get her hand stuck in the glass.

Above she is demonstrating the manual dexterity she inherited from her baseball-playing father by dunking while managing her Phase 10 cards. All of a sudden, disaster strikes; she lost her cookie. Amid some little embarrassment and an apology for having to fish her cookie out of the cup, she begins to laugh.

After fishing her cookie out of the cup and downing it quickly, she pauses momentarily to gain her composure and play a card. Taking a new cookie, she make another attempt at a dunk. You guessed it; dropped the second cookie. If you click on the picture you can see the floating cookie number two.

By this time, everyone at the table played another card while breathlessly awaiting a successful dunk. After fishing cookie number two out of the cup, and eating it, she takes a moment to compose herself before making the final assault on the cup.

Well, as fate would have it, I missed the final and successful dunk and had to be content with this final picture below of Sister Cindy confidently relaxed and fully composed at the opposite end of the table after finally achieving a perfect dunk. I, on the other hand had to be satisfied with simply drinking my milk with my non-chocolate chip cookie, especially made by Sister Cindy because I don't like chocolate chips.

This is the last of the list of blogs that I intended to write over the months and never got to it. The writing may taper off now as I finish the projects I have on my list. The things left of the list are to finish creating the game I have started to introduce to our friends and to sort, cleanup, and categorize the pictures so that we are prepared to use them if we are ever asked to talk to a group about our mission.

Thank you for following this blog and I hope you will check in from time to time to see if anything else has popped from my fertile mind.

What a companion. What a country
DS

Winter is Reluctant to Let Go of Novosibirsk

2010-04-01T21:44:00.001+07:00

Weather -- overcast, light wind, warming
Temp -- plus 36F
Wind -- 3-5 mph

April first and the melt is on; again. Here I am in my winter duds, wearing my scarf "Siberian Style" with my fur collar around my neck and my shopka down to my eyebrows.

In mid March the temperature got up to the mid 40's and everything began to get soft and/or melt. That lasted 4 days, enough to get a good melt started. Then it snowed for 4 days and then the temperature dropped into the 20's and whatever was melted froze into a solid sheet of ice. Novosibirsk became a huge ice skating rink with people slippin' and slidin' from площадь Ленинa (Ploshad Lenina) Lenin Plaza at the city center to площадь Марксa (Ploshad Marksa) Plaza Marx at the left bank Metro terminus.

It stayed that way for a week or so and then we hit the 30's and the ice began to get really slick with a sheen of water on it. Then last week the snow came again and we were back to the high 20's. Finally this week we have had 3 days of high 30's and the water is flowing again. below is our office driveway with the ice partially melted (about a foot thick) and the water flowing from beneath it.

It is interesting to contemplate the various things that have been contributed to the water that now splashed from passing cars and collects in puddles that you must traverse on the way to and from. Surely it contains the auto component, the dog component, the trash component, the human component, and whatever is actually seeping up from the ground as it mixes with the flowing surface water.

The trash component is huge. All winter stuff accumulates around the neighborhood and is then buried with snow that becomes encased in ice and remains out of sight until the melt. As the ice recedes and the waters flow, the hidden becomes known and what was not picked up last fall or winter now becomes a project. The snow removal department and the ice chippers do a very good job keeping the major thoroughfares clear and as the snow stops falling and the main roads are passable, they start on the smaller roads and even parking lots. One morning last week we awoke to the sounds of a snow plow breaking up the ice in our parking lot and moving it into piles. You always know when the weather has been clear, the machinery gets closer to home.

Another contemplation is the question of, "where does it all go?" The storm-drain system is full of the sand they spread on the ice for traction and as Sister Woodhouse can attest, it is full of a lot of trash as well. You remember that she was the one who stepped into an open storm drain one night while leaving our house on her way with Sister Boggs and a recent convert, Anya, to English Club. There WAS enough room for her to go down past her waist, but I can see the trash piled up in there to stop the water. So where does it go? There is no sign that it flows in any systematic way to the river. The drains don't work. Closer to the office we DID see several sink holes that formed last spring and there was significant water flowing underground there to create quite a hole. The ground must be saturated pretty quickly, and evaporation is a little slow; a mystery.

When you are little and the snow gets icy it is hard to find a place to play outside. Here a mother and toddler are trying to get some outside time and it's tough finding something to dig in or slide down. Having a young child in an apartment is like having a large dog. They both need to get outside during the day and just run around. It surely stains a mother's patience to have such an "animal" on the loose in a 800 sq ft apartment,

Here the water has melted and frozen again. This can be really dangerous for us older folk. We don't bounce like the young ones and we hit with a thud. The only time I have fallen (knock on wood) during our whole mission was as we were coming down the stairs from the hill upon which is the Zolani Kulola building (green roof) where the 1st and 2nd branches meet. It is two sets of about 30 steps that end at street level. Then you make a 90 degree turn to the right and walk about 200 feet to the Metro entry. As we turned the corner ( the only time I wasn't wearing my shoe chains) I slipped on the ice on a little incline and took out Sister Cindy like a 7-10 pin split (bowling term) and we both went down in a heap. Fortunately, 5-6 of the YSA girls were with us and got us on our feet. I cracked a rib on Sister Cindy's bag that I had on my right shoulder, but otherwise we survived.

When the melt is in full sway, this is what we have in several spots along our route from home to the office. Some creative Russian has laid some pallets against the fence and they stay there all year just for the month or so that we have the spring flood. Why not?

If you aren't fast enough across the street or watching carefully you get some of that interesting water on your nice clean пальто (palto) and I'm sure it will eat a hole in it before I get home.

But for Russians, and particularly Siberians, any hint of sun and thaw is time for a bar-b-q and shish-ka-bob is the order of the day. They call it шашлык (sashlik and it is usually beef and veggies on a steel rod cooked over coals. Very ethnic.

The melt is what the Siberians hate almost as much as the winter. The good thing about winter is that it is not so messy. The bad thing is that it's "DARN COLD". The bad thing about the melt is the mess. The good thing is that summer is coming and there is hope for a time to thaw out and rest up for the next winter.

Finally, I just love this picture. It is Elder Wilson and Elder Baird in front of their передняя дверь (front door) that did not close all the way during the winter. The moist air from the building's interior leaked out all winter and formed ice crystals on the under-side of their entry awning as you see here. You can just imagine what the melt will do to that.

Winter is brutal; the melt is just a last reminder that man is nothing in the face of nature. We can prepare for it and even endure it, but we cannot control it. Once the melt is past we will enjoy five months of reasonable weather and freedom.

For our missionaries, this begins the time when they can contact people on the street and have a hope that they will stop and listen. It is hard to concentrate on a gospel message at -37F.

The melt is also the reason that Siberian Russians take off their shoes when they come into a house or apartment and they always head straight for the bathroom to wash their hands. This is a dirty place and you have to have these traditions, habits, to keep any semblance of cleanliness.

What a country.
DS

One of the great families of Novosibirsk

2010-04-01T20:38:00.002+07:00

Weather -- Slight overcast, cold, mild wind
Temp -- Plus 20F
Wind -- 3-5 mph

Meet the Savchuks, one of the really great families of Novosibirsk. Father is Victor, mother is Nina, daughters are 21 year old Galia and 18 year old Dasha. When we said good-bye to them after dinner and a round of Phase 10, as I closed the door Sister Cindy said what I was thinking. "There's a family we should have gotten better acquainted with a year ago. They would have done things with us." They are some of the nicest people we have met anywhere; just genuinely nice people.

Victor was the last of the family to join the Church, getting baptized in 2006. First was momma, Nina, who met the missionaries at her door in the 1990's when the church in Novosibirsk was totally run by the missionaries and they had many small branches scattered around he city. Later Galia and Dasha were baptized when old enough and now Victor has made the family complete.

At dinner, Victor talked about the various jobs he has had over the years, he said their were 10 different jobs, starting with his work in a factory that made components for the Soviet space effort. It was there that he et Nina who worked in the same factory because both were in a back-packing club organized at the factory. I believe he started as an electrical engineer and continued in that general category for several job changes.

Next he worked at a gold mining site in the Yakutia area of north-central Russia, then worked in the same general area for a diamond mining project, both government projects during the Soviet period. Later he continued in other jobs using his electrical expertise, turning to home building, large building construction, and now has turned a photography hobby into a business where he now has contracts with schools to take class pictures all over Novosibirsk. He is a smart, capable man with the willingness to succeed.

A few months ago we had Victor to our home with an investigator to meet with the elders. The lesson went OK, but when Victor started to tell his conversion story and bear his testimony of what the Gospel and the Church had done for his family, the meeting came alive and the Holy Ghost was talking. That was the first time I had heard him talk, through a translator, and was I impressed.

The family took a road trip last summer that would put our US road trips to shame. It is like comparing a road trip on the Big Island of Hawaii to one on the mainland. In short, they drove from Novosibirsk to Helsinki to be in the Temple for only the second time. They were sealed as a family in May of 2007. That's 4311 km one way, or 2675 miles. That's 5 thousand miles by car; Yikes! Galia got to drive in the country, but papa drove in the cities. That's quite a commitment for four people in a sedan.

Galia and Dasha are two of my favorite people. They are beautiful outside and inside. Above they are the ones kneeling on the left and standing on the left. Below, Galia is sitting front right. They are open, friendly, kind, smart, and a lot of fun. They are two of the bright lights I will miss.

What a family. What a country

The Lost and Found

2010-03-30T12:18:00.002+07:00

Weather -- Bright and sunny this morning, now beginning to cloud over

Temp -- plus 20F

Wing 5-7 mph

This morning I was cleaning up my computer desk top and came across this post I never completed. It was from April 2009 and I wanted to save it here rather than trashing it.

Tonight we had the Zone Leaders, Olga (office), President Chudinov, Lena (first branch), and President Gushchin for dinner to celebrate Jesus birthday and the birthday of the church. It was not a kosher meal, but it was worthy of the celebration with salad, pork chops, buttered noodles, asparagus, rolls, butter, and jam.

After dinner we had a lesson from the elders on Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection. I contributed some answers to two questions, “Why do we have Christmas on December 25^th”, and Is the evergreen tree a pagan symbol. The first, about the date was quite simple. Constantine tried to unite the Roman Empire with Christianity and meshed Christian holidays with the old pagan calendar of festivals. The end of the year celebrations were ideal for celebrating Jesus’ birthday and Christmas was born.

As for the evergreen tree, yes it was pagan at first as a symbol of life in mid winter at the winter solestus but was combined with Christmas as the symbol of Christ’s living and resurrection.

After the lesson we had dessert and while eating, the elders started on a discussion of how bad their apartment was and how they would like to move into the building where the Assistants and the Office Elders live, called “The Palace” because it is so large. After about 5 minutes of the virtues of the Palace and the shortcomings of their current apartment, Elder Bindrup said that they were going to look at it tomorrow and I said not to get too excited about it because both of you will someday be transferred and moving into better digs would not benefit you. Then Elder Bindrup made the fatal slip,” Well, I wouldn’t just go there and buy it” when I smiled and quietly interjected, “you are not going to buy anything”, meaning that I make those decisions. That caught him off guard and he was speechless for a few moments. Then we all laughed and had fun with that little play of words.

The Perils of Travel

2010-03-29T23:33:00.011+07:00

Weather--Bright sun, light breeze, shirtsleeve weather
Temp--26.7F
Wind 3-5 mph

Travel in Russia can be a little confusing, especially when you have to go through Moscow, but we only do that on visa renewal trips or travel to and from the US. The routine travel between our mission cities is usually uneventful, but can occasionally be interesting. Like the time that one of our senior couples had to travel from Barnaul to Novosibirsk, about 295 km by bus in the summer. That was a 5 hour ride in a crowded bus without a bathroom stop, air conditioning, or open windows and an on-board toilet that had not been pumped that week.

Or the time Sister Cindy and I rode the train the 2080 km to Ulan-Ude last spring with the Humanitarian couple, Gil and Heidi Bowden. It took 36 hours and a lot of sitting, but we had a "coupe", or compartment, to sleep in and two bathrooms in our "wagon" or car. That's the way to see the countryside. It was often a time machine, rolling past villages in Siberia that were not far removed from the 19th century.

Travel from Ulan-Ude to Irkutsk has two options that each have its own character. Pyotr describes them as 40 minutes of horror (on an old prop-driven plane) or 7 hours on the train. We usually opt for the train for the missionaries.

Here are some distance number that might interest you.
Omsk (on the west) to Ulan-Ude (on the east) is 2838 km
Novosibirsk to the closest 4 cities averages about 300 km
Novosibirsk to Omsk on the east and Krasnoyarsk on the west is about 750-786 km

The thing that makes traveling even more interesting is the schedules and methods of purchase. The buses and trains are pretty predictable. Although the train schedule is always announced as Moscow time, they are usually on time and rarely delayed. The buses are scheduled on local time and often late or even canceled. When we buy train tickets we must have the missionary's passport numbers and the ticket can be electronically sent to missionaries like airline tickets; very nice. Bus tickets don't require passport numbers, but you can be asked for your passport for identification at any time.

Local transportation involves tramvys (streetcars), buses (both diesel and electric), mini-buses, marshutkas (vans), taxis, the Metro, and shanks mare (on foot). People here walk a great deal and do not consider a 10 kilometer walk unreasonable. Olga (from the office) walks almost that far if you total her walk to the bus and from the bus to the office. It is quite amazing that the women can walk through the snow and ice with confidence in 5 inch high heals during the winter.

In the 60's we used to see how many students we could stuff into a Volkswagen. Here is the Novosibirsk version of that, How many shoppers can you stuff in a bus to the Ikea shopping center.

The final trip for returning missionaries can be very eventful, particularly in winter, considering the weather, the number of connections, the equipment, clearing customs, changing airports, the world-wide economic crisis, and the ambient attitude toward customer service in Russia. To help them to have contact with us or the Moscow office, we opened a prepaid phone account and gave them the instructions and PIN to use the service. Two cases in point . . .

Case #1 Elder Hinkson's trip home ended abruptly in Moscow when Delta canceled their flight 31 to JFK. Since the missionaries have no phone and there are almost no public phones, it is difficult at best for them to contact us and tell us when they have a problem. In this case, he had to borrow someone's cell phone and call us. Delta had to put him up in a hotel for the night and we had to notify his family of the delay.

Case #2
The Senior Couple from Krasnoyarsk, the Royers, left a couple of weeks ago in the company of Elder Couturier. Their first mishap occurred in Novosibirsk where they spent 3-plus hours in the plane waiting for the fog to clear. That made them miss their flight to JFK and so they tried to use the prepaid phone account. Unfortunately, they couldn't locate a public phone to use and six kiosks refused to sell them a phone card. Elder Couturier borrowed a phone several times and the Delta desk let them use their phone a couple of times and we stayed in touch that way. After Sister Cindy and Church Missionary Travel tried all morning to get them on another flight, they finally had to stay overnight and take the last three seats on the same JFK flight the next day.

They wrote,
"Hello Sister Simmons,

Yea! We made it! We got to Boise just before midnight Thursday night. We only lost one bag--one of Elder Royer's went to Chicago via United. The whole thing is a mystery to us! But, most importantly, we got here with no problems past the glitch caused by the fog in Novosibirsk.

When we saw all the people lined up at passport control at JFK, we were afraid we were in trouble. We should have known better--we were in the USA and everything went quickly and smoothly. The New Yorkers seemed so nice and friendly! The guy at customs just passed us all through lickety-split; everything was great!

I'm glad you will have many missionaries with you as you leave. Elder Couturier was a lifesaver! I hope the Elder and Sister Holmes have no problems when their turn comes!

Again, thank you, thank you, thank you for your help this week! It made a bad situation bearable to know that you were taking care of us. I'm glad we had someone with your experience working on our problem; you knew just what to do!

With love and best wishes,

Elder and Sister Royer"

And that is exactly correct. If you have a problem, Sister Cindy is your best bet. She has the contacts, the Chutzpah (pronounced /ˈhʊtspə/), and the will to do whatever needs to be done.

Nothing is simple here, but you have to keep rule one and four in mind, "It doesn't have to make sense"and "None of it really matters"

What a country.

The 1,000,000th visitor

2010-03-24T23:12:00.001+06:00

Weather -- Warming, overcast, melting
Temp--plus 40F
Wind--3-5 mph

When I began this blog, I intended it for family and a few friends around the country. I never dreamed that other people would want to read about our experiences in Novosibirsk. I guess we each think that our lives are uninteresting and that no one would care, but the truth is that everyone's life is interesting and full of stories with life-lessons, humor, pathos, sorrows and joys. The blog has certainly changed from what I intended and once people began to tell their friends and friends tell friends, and the online Mission Moms group found it, the hits keep on coming.

Around September of 2008 I began to learn about Blogspot and some interesting things I could put on the blog. I am very ignorant of this technology so everything was an adventure. Among other things I found a counter that could be put on it to tell me how many looks I received and I expected that it would be maybe 100 a month. You can see the counter on the left side under our picture.

I kinda lost track of it until Christmas time and when I happened to look at the counter in December it was about 80,000. I was stunned! It was at that moment that I became aware of the exposure this blog might have and that I needed to be careful that what I put on it was factual when I was talking about anything serious because people from all over were reading about us, our mission activities, and the people of Russia that we met here. I certainly didn't want to give anyone an incorrect impression, so I tried from that point to be factual and even-handed with any comments about events here. I hope that I have succeeded.

Occasionally, I checked the counter over 2009 and saw that the speed of the hits kept increasing. At first there might be 1,000 a month and now it runs about 10,000 a week. I just don't know what to do with that. It is amazing that so many people around the world have read, and apparently continue to read what comes out of our experiences or out of my imagination.

I have enjoyed reading the comments from the readers. Some members of the on-line missionary moms group read it to keep up on life in the mission. Even young men who are called to Russia and are preparing to go to the MTC have read it, some of them have even come to Novosibirsk and left comments. Many of the young members here in Novo have read it, but none have commented that I know of. Several comments have been made by Russians that I don't know, but wish that I did. The readership is diverse geographically, demographically, and in some way very random.

Thirty-five people have registered as followers and even that blows me away. Even though most of them don't leave comments, apparently they read it and get something out of it, which is reall gratifying. For people to come back means something, doesn't it?

I will close this rambling with thanks to you all who have read this blog over the past almost two years. We will be going home in April and the accounts of our adventure will of course cease. However, I like to write and maybe I would decide to start some kind of general blog to air my ramblings.

In the mean time, I would like to say a big welcome to the one millionth visitor. I never imagined that you would exist and I am stunned by our existence, but I love you and hope that the time you spent here was worth your effort.

We still have a month to go and will continue to write about our mission in this country and specifically this city as the snow melts and Spring approaches.

What a country.
DS

Too Much of a Good Thing

2010-03-20T18:28:00.002+06:00

Weather --Started sunny, got windy, now snowing
Temp--plus 26F
Wind 25-30 mph

Is it possible to have too much of a good thing? Have YOU ever had too much of a good thing? Well, I think I have on several occasions here in Novosibirsk.

Weather change is a good thing. Without it we would live either in a rain forest or a desert. However, here the weather changes on a dime. As noted above, around 9 am today it started off clear and sunny. Gradually it clouded over during the morning. Then the wind really picked up about noon. (we always have SOME wind) By 3 pm it was snowing, the temp dropped 5 degrees, and the wind had tapered off. Now at 4 pm the wind is again about 20 mph, the snow has stopped and we are waiting for the next event.

Water is a good thing; right? Well, not if you live below a pair of missionaries who forgot to hook the washing machine effluent (for those of you from Rio Linda that's the drain) back over the lip of the tub after some operation that required its removal. If you put in a load of wash just before you go out for the day, it can be a disaster because a full cycle of the washer would probably dump 10 gallons of water on the bathroom floor and subsequently down onto the ceiling, walls, and floor of the apartment below. All of the door jams here have a high threshold because they are after-thoughts to the poured concrete construction. The one in the bathroom acts like a dam and prevents most of the water from running out of the bathroom, concentrating it there to find an opening into the lower apartment.

Water can be a problem even when it gets turned off, a common event in the summer when they are repairing the pipes and boilers of the central hot-water facilities. Over several months in 2008, we learned to grab the hot water pipe that bends out from the wall next to the sink to see if we have hot water today. No sense getting naked if you are not getting wet. (This one was in a Moscow hotel. Ours isn't that pretty). However, the absense of water is not the theme here. The problem comes when the "joy-stick" faucet handle is not centered while the water is off or if a faucet is left on accidentally. When it comes back on, while you are away of course, you have running water until you return and you are billed for every liter of hot water you use.

It became even more of a problem for a senior couple who were assigned to mentor a city about 4 hours from their own city twice a month. While staying in their apartment in that city, the hot water was turned off while someone was in the shower. Somehow, the hot water faucet was left on when they locked up and left for what was to be two weeks, but turned out to be more because of illness. About 4 weeks later the Zone Leader got a call from the landlord to meet him at the apartment and arrived to find a swamp. It seems that the hot water returned and ran in the tub for a month, creating a rain forest in the apartment and growing a rather interesting variety of molds on absolutely everything. It only came to someone's attention because it finally began to rain in the apartment (condensation of steam on the ceiling falling on the floor) and that rain began to run into the apartment below.

One good thing we need here is something to help with our digestive system. We just don't drink enough water or get enough fiber. Without being indelicate, we needed a little digestive motivation and since we are, collectively, health-food-nuts, we were looking for something to add bulk to our diet. We tried bran in the oatmeal, but that was insufficient. Then we had our daughter, Trisha, send us some psyillium to add to the oatmeal and to take with water or juice when needed. This is the "active" ingredient in Metamucil. Well, Sister Cindy discovered that this "good thing" can be over-done as well. Have you ever eaten slime? Above, Sister Cindy tried drinking it. You can see the result of too much of this good thing.

Another good thing that can be over-done is advice. Ya'know, I love advice. There are several people in this world smarter than me, I married one of them, and I love to get their advice; when I ask for it. I thrill at the insight other people can provide to you when they are not living in your skin. It is mind expanding. It is reflective thinking at its best. I LOVE ADVICE. I know so many wise people, it is like I am surrounded by Lamas like this one from Ulan-Ude who is still meditating after over 100 years.

However, advice is like chocolate syrup. A little on your spumoni ice cream can be a delight. Even chocolate syrup on chocolate ice cream can be interesting. BUT, too much chocolate syrup just ruins the whole thing. When there is more chocolate syrup than ice cream, something is seriously wrong and you will probably end up not eating it at all.

Moms and wives everywhere; listen up. By the time you son or daughter goes on a mission . . . it's too late. Do yourself and your missionary a favor and save the advice for when they have kids; they'll be listening then. If you regularly give advice on staying healthy, being careful, being a good companion, reading the scriptures; don't. He/she is getting advice and directions from a companion, a zone leader, a senior couple, an office couple, a mission president, and God. That's plenty of chocolate syrup. Come on mom, enjoy the ride.

Read their emails with relish. Respond with supporting, loving encouragement. Be a great cheering section and put him/her into God's hands. You are too far away and too late to make any kind of significant impact in their day-to-day behaviors now. You did a good job. You prepared your missionary the best anyone could. Now let them fly. I can tell you from first-hand experience--THEY ARE AWESOME!!! Especially those assigned to Siberia. I am wiping the tears from my cheeks right now thinking of them and how great they are. Trust me, they are the best of the best and I am personally sinning every day in my pride for them.

Thank you for all you have done to prepare your missionary and the support you are to them. I guess that is one good thing that will be hard to over-do.

What great moms. What great missionaries. What a country.
DS

The Greenies Arrived

2010-03-18T23:49:00.002+06:00

Weather--Heavy snow, blustery, blowing & drifting snow
Temp--plus 26F
Wind--25 to 50 mph

The weather turned nasty last night and today. Very strong winds from the west, horizontal snow, drifts knee-deep, melting ice mixed with wet snow, and cars crashing into one another all over town. It's like these people don't know how to drive in the snow. When the Zone Leaders called tonight they said that walking on the street was like doing Michael Jackson's moon-walk. They were stepping forward, but actually being pushed backwards because the wind cleared off the snow exposing the foot of ice beneath. During a big just, one lady grabbed a sign post and just hung on until it stopped so as to not be driven back on the ice.

The good news is that our four new elders arrived yesterday morning in good shape and great spirits. They were greeted at the airport by President Trejo and brought, with their luggage, to the mission home where they were put to bed for the rest of the morning. That afternoon they were fed and introduced to the mission by the Trejos and the Assistants to the President, followed by dinner at the mission home and more orientation. Here we see them at the table with Sister Trejo while president took the picture. Here we see elders Drasso, Capps, Eborn, Septon, and the Assistants (elders Antuna and Rainsden.
After dinner they took a formal picture and got into bed again for some much needed sleep to reset their "clocks".

Today it was up for breakfast, more orientation by the Assistants, lunch at a local Kentucky Fried Chicken store called "Rostiks", a brief tour of the central area of Novosibirsk (the opera house and "Center of Russia" chapel) and finally delivered to the mission office where the office staff gave their instructions.

Olga, the visa clerk, told them about registration and the need to keep their documents in order. I instructed them on the ATM card use, cell phone protocols, and the luggage policy. Sister Simmons gave them the general do's and don'ts and we introduced them to their new senior companions.

During my time I asked them about the trip in and if they had any challenges. The report was that everything went as they had been told, they paid the Delta luggage fee, got on the plane in SLC and transferred to the international flight with no problems. They were traveling with a group of missionaries destined for Rostov (in the banana belt of southern Russia) so they had company all the way to Moscow.

In Moscow they were met by Sister Stapley, the Director of Temporal Affairs wife who guided them through the second passport process at the US Embassy and delivered them to the domestic airport for their flight to Novo. Everything went smooth for them except Elder Septon would have liked more sleep.

Later throughout the afternoon and evening they were taken to their various trains and sent off on the last let to their first cities of assignment. We are glad to see them here and look forward to seeing them prosper in their new surroundings. The weather was quite an introduction to Siberia, but they were all up for it. A strong group of Greenies.

What a group. What a country.
DS

An Emense Capacity to Endure

2010-03-18T21:41:00.000+06:00

Weather--Bright sun after 4 days of snow
Temp--+18F
Wind--3-5 mph

We sent to Snigiri (picture below) with the Trejos and the assistants this morning because we rarely get out there to church and we always take advantage of a ride anywhere. This branch is in a small village about 5 miles to the east of Novosibirsk proper but within the City jurisdiction.

The branch has 101 members on the roll, but with about thirty on any particular Sunday. The branch president has begun to get the vision of ministering to his congregation and was greeting people at the door today and organizing rescue visits to inactives during a 15 minute meeting after church. Our friend at right is a new convert in this branch and needs lots of support. Here she is with her youngest daughter and granddaughter.

While visiting with those we know in the branch, we talked to one of our friends whose wife is in the hospital suffering from undiagnosed pain that has accompanied paralysis of her upper body including her hands and arms as well as a benign tumor on her spine. This is just the icing on the cake for this lady who is the mother of an autistic son and the wife of a man who lost his job a year ago and cannot work because the former employer will not return his "work card".

These folks have struggled with burdens that would bury most of us, but they still try to smile and make the best of it. The autistic son has made a lot of progress over these past 2 years because she has worked with him constantly, every day, using techniques she has learned herself from books (several of which we provided) and the internet because the medical community here does not recognize autism as a legitimate disease/syndrome needing treatment. She has treated this boy at home for the last 6+ years, as soon as she identified his behaviors, without support or even acceptance by medicals or community. They were even afraid to tell the members of the branch because he would be isolated and ostracized thinking that other children could be affected.

If I had this autistic child, wife with a spinal tumor, no prospect of being allowed to work for the foreseeable future, and now the wife is paralyzed with an unknown condition, I would not be able to get out of the bed in the morning, but this family is at church, he is teaching the priesthood lesson, and he is going with her to her medical tests, and he is sounding upbeat about the possible treatment of his wife's condition.

It is astounding, but it is typical of Siberians who see themselves as able to endure anything, after all, they live in one of the most inhospitable places of major population in the world and manage to make a life for themselves. Imagine that you live in a place where serious winter lasts 6-7 months of the year and winter temperatures fall to the high - 30's and stay there for 3-4 months at a time; where government, crime, pandemic corruption, and a thousand years of tyrannic history make daily life miserable; where everything in your life is controlled by someone or something else; where hope is a four-letter-word and initiative is crushed; where you live on so little that any minor setback is ruinous; where most young couples live with a parent or rent a bedroom in another family's apartment because they can't afford their own; can you imagine this?

These people have an iron will and an almost-unlimited capacity to endure and it is way beyond anything I understand. This is why I love the Russians and especially the Russians in the Church that I know. They are extraordinary people and they have my admiration, my love, and my respect for what they can endure. I am grateful to be part of the process to introduce them to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the hope that it can bring to them. God bless the missionaries in their effort to do so.

What a country
DS

Missionary Work in Russia, We Have Been Allowed to Serve

2010-03-11T19:29:00.139+06:00

Weather -- a little cooler and still snowing off & on
Temp -- plus 20F
Wind -- 5-7 mph

I have been reminded that the Church is not new in Russia. The following is a summary of the major benchmarks of the Gospel in Russia that I gleaned from the Church web site and added some items of my own from first-hand experience. We have been privileged to be part of it several times, in several places.

In 1843, just 13 years after the Church's organization, Church President Joseph Smith called two men to preach in Russia. This assignment was canceled after the martyrdom of Joseph Smith in 1844.

In 1895, a native of Sweden was sent to St. Petersburg, where he baptized the Johan M. Lindelof family. The family was occasionally visited by Church leaders in the early 1900s. In 1959,

Ezra Taft Benson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, simultaneously serving as United States Secretary of Agriculture, visited the Central Baptist Church in Moscow and preached to an attentive congregation.

Religious tolerance was slow in coming, but the first sign that it was inevitable came in 1988 when the government permitted a commemoration of 1,000 years of Christianity in Russia. As the door to religious freedom opened, it became apparent many Russians had preserved a heritage of faith despite seven decades of official state atheism.

In September 1989, Church leaders authorized a United States Embassy worker, Alan Evenson, in Moscow to begin holding group meetings in his apartment. Four months later, in January 1990, missionaries arrived in Leningrad for short periods on tourist visas from Finland. The first convert they baptized became the first full-time missionary from Russia, serving in the Utah Ogden Mission. We will unknowingly have a hand in this branch when we left dozens of copies the Book of Mormon and other Church materials with him on a cold October night, our last in Moscow on our Sister Cities tour with our friend Nicci Larson.

In October 1989 Dennis B. Neuenschwander (then president of the Austria Vienna East Mission, now of the Seventy) and Steven R. Mecham (then president of the Finland Helsinki Mission) were authorized to take the gospel into the Soviet Union. Within months, Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles formally dedicated Estonia for the preaching of the gospel and offered in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) a prayer of gratitude, invoking the blessings of heaven upon the Estonian and Russian peoples.

Still, President Mecham and his missionaries had yet to enter the Soviet Union proper. Then at the October 1988 general conference, Elder Nelson told President Mecham that President Benson had received revelation that missionaries were to enter the Soviet Union. Elder Nelson then told him that he would soon see "physical and spiritual manifestations of the Lord's hand in taking the gospel into Russia." It was only a month later when President Mecham watched with the rest of the world as the Berlin Wall came down.

The missionaries of the Finland Helsinki Mission began trips into Leningrad for several weeks at a time on tourist visas to visit the members there who had been baptized elsewhere. In February 1990, a congregation was organized in Vyborg. By mid-summer 1990, the Leningrad congregation, created in December 1989, had 100 members, and the Vyborg congregation had 25 members. In September, the St. Petersburg congregation (formerly the Leningrad congregation) was recognized by the government and in October a religious freedom law was passed allowing them to meet openly.

On October 7th our family arrived in Leningrad with a picture of Jesus as a gift for that congregation on their first official Sunday meeting. President Browning, the then mission president would not allow us to deliver it personally so we gave it to the missionaries along with several jars of peanut butter.

In June 1991, the world-renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir received publicity "beyond its wildest expectations" as it performed in the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). The choir recorded songs later broadcast to a potential audience of 339 million. In May 1991, the Church was officially recognized by Russia as the Central Religious Organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It was a sweet event for Elder Nelson on October 20, 2009 when he dedicated a renovated theater as a meeting house in Voronezh and said the service brought to his mind fond memories of an earlier visit in 1993 when his son, Russell M. Nelson Jr., was serving there as a missionary in the Russia Moscow Mission. "Back then, my son served as my translator,"

Now Russia has 8 missions and almost 30,000 members. As Elder Schwitzer of the Europe East Area Presidency said at our Novosibirsk Zone Conference this week, there is something significant about such a large piece of real estate (Russia) that has been controlled by Satan for so long as to keep it isolated from the rest of the world until just recently. There is something very special about this land and we will soon see major events here that will bring about the prophesies concerning this land regarding the gathering of the Ten Tribes and the bringing of tens and hundreds of thousands into the Church.

The following Youtube feature illustrates the work we have been engaged in. We are now seeing the end of this chapter of our involvement with Russia, but the story is not over, I think.

What a country.
DS

Children of Siberia

2010-03-09T23:01:00.002+06:00

Weather--Warming, windy and snow
Temp--plus 38F
Wind--10-20 mph

Children are basically the same all over the world. They are explorers, searching their environment for new experiences and new things to test and try out. Mothers everywhere spend much of their time trying to corral and limit their child's searching, but most find ways to experience the adventure of discovery.

It is the same in Siberia and I have seen some instances of children wandering off, or trying to, when their mothers are otherwise occupied, sometimes without incident and sometimes to their hurt or worse. From our 9th floor bedroom I see much of the adventures of children as they tag behind mom, get pulled on a sled, get picked up while crossing the street or when moving too slowly. Even without hearing the sounds that surely accompany these events, the body language and actions are enough of the story.

I was too late to catch the action from the window of the church meeting hall at Zolani Kupola (green roof), but the tracks in the snow tell the story. Mom is walking (right to left in the picture) with a 2 year old when distracted by another adult and, before she knows it, the little one climbs into the snow bank and is trudging through the snow toward the rail road tracks beyond the fence at the top. When the mother discovers the missing child, she bounds through the snow, picks him/her up and makes her way back to the road. As mom finishes her conversation with the other adult, junior is again off toward the fence and she has to retrieve him/her once again. Giving up the exchange with the other person, the mother and child continue toward the train station.

Another attempt at adventure unfolded below the bedroom window as I was getting dressed the other morning. A young mom with a toddler holding an orange plastic shovel came along the walk-way across the street in a slow, meandering way as the child stopped every few feet to examine something in the snow bank. He/she suddenly picked up something and put it to its face and of course mom intervened, throwing it back into the snow, leaving the child to look back at the object and then to mom a couple of times. Mom moves forward a couple of steps, encouraging further progress and a little distance from the object, but junior heads back to the object. She again intercepts him/her and decides the walk is over. Picking junior up, she walks briskly to the corner and turns right up the driveway to her apartment entry where I finally got the picture. I just hate missing the action shot.

Just going home after a family night at our house can be an adventure. In this sequence a three year old boy is prepared for the -30 degree night as his family walks to the bus stop for the ride home. By the time they get him into his suit and the parents get their own coats, scarfs, mittens, and boots on, this kid is almost comatose from the body head trapped in his little suit.

The Cabo window looks out onto a school in the back and Sister Cindy saw a cute scene which I again did not get in my camera. A class at the school was at recess and the children were playing and digging in the snow as if they were at the beach, digging in the sand. They had a number of plastic shovels and buckets and were making tracks and digging holes when recess was over and they were called away from the play and pretend to the reality of the classroom again. The same game was seen in microcosm with a mom supervising a toddler with a shovel in a spot near our back door.

At church the music in First Branch is conducted by a 12 year old daughter of the Drachyov family and their 2 year old youngest child has taken to standing by her while she directs. Her mother tries to divert her, but to no avail.

Even some of our big kids are continually seeking adventure. Here Elder Antuna is trying to drink our of a juice box after Zone Conference lunch without his lips touching the spout on the theory that it would still be sanitary. What do you think? He thinks he made it and feels pretty satisfied.

Even Elder Peterson got into the act. I left my camera on the table after dinner tonight and came back into the kitchen to find him experimenting with close-ups of his face. Another adventure.

Kids are all alike
What a country
DS

A Night With Carman

2010-03-09T19:55:00.001+06:00

Weather Clear and cold

Temp--minus 24C

Wind--3-5mph from the west

Every quarter each Zone (city) attends some kind of cultural event that is typical of the local people and instructive about their ways and attitudes. We have been to a dozen ballets, a hockey game, and a folk dance and music show.

This time we were influenced by Alexander, an investigator who is a member of the local opera company and, who suggested that we attend this production because it is a family friendly show and appropriate for the missionaries. He has been associated with several sets of the elders and has attended church with us so we had confidence in his suggestion.

Alexander invited some of us to come back stage before the performance and Sister Cindy, Elder McConnaghey, and I met him and were escorted around back stage to see how things look from that perspective.

Having been to many performances in this theater, it was interesting to see it from the stage. Here we see the workers cleaning and preparing the stage for the performance as we took the tour. Here is the front view for comparison.

Here Sister Cindy and Elder McConnaghey talk with Alexander about the theater as I take pictures around the back stage area. I noticed that scenery items for other shows were covered and stored beyond the audience's view and I am sure we would see them in other performances.

Walking through the dressing room and other backstage areas, it shows the age of the theater, having been built during the Stalin era and being used four or five performances a week since that time. I cannot even imagine the number of performances that have been staged since that time and the ghosts of all that time are surely haunting that place.

As we met some of the performers and then saw them on stage it was an interesting transformation in my head, seeing the before and after. The costumes and makeup really transform them into the characters.

Alexander played several parts, one being a soldier. Here he is with Elder McConnaghey and the female love interest of the main character before he gets mixed up with with Carmen.

Although Alexander said it was missionary appropriate, this production definitely was not. As one of the sisters said at the first intermission, "Well, that had everything (the first act) that I am suppose to avoid on a mission". We all were a little shocked, especially me because I knew the story line and had seen one performance many years ago that was pure white-bread compared to this one. This production had been Russianized and was full of inappropriate touching, revealing clothes, suggestive posturing, drunkenness, and a half-dozen other White Book violations. We all hoped that it would get better in the subsequent acts, but it was still pretty raunchy. That surely ruined our opera experience and poisoned the well for any future performances. It is so frustrating to go to a performance expecting something acceptable but getting embarrassed and surprised. We will stick to folk dancing and symphonies from now on.

All twenty of us were seated in the 5th and 6th row and had a good view of the performance. Here we are with the Trejos during the first of four intermissions. Sister Trejo's expression tells it all.

The curtain call was most welcome and we all left knowing that we should have left in the first intermission. It was another lesson in acting on the spirit's promptings.

A mission includes many successes and a few uncomfortable lessons. This was certainly that for all of us senior missionaries who should have led our lambs out of the theater right away. It serves to strengthen all of our resolve to act when prompted and be the leaders we came here to be.

Every culture has its threshold of tolerance for conduct and ours in the world-wide Church certainly have one a notch above what we experienced here. The email to the senior couples from President Trejo the next morning reminded us all that it is up to us to show the way and we were all called to repentance and strengthened in our resolve to do a better job of protecting our missionaries. What a lesson. What a country
DS

The Lord's Earthquake Warning in Chile

2010-03-06T00:21:00.000+06:00

Weather--Clear and colder alternating with overcast and snowing
Temperature--minus 26C
Wind--10-12 mph from the north-west

I would like to share something that I believe demonstrates another reason why missionary parents can sleep well with their sons or daughters in the mission field. This is taken from the Meridian Magazine dated March 3, 2010. I have selected a few sentences that are the heart of her message. The article text is in blue and my comments are in black.

"Editor’s Note: President Larry Laycock and his wife, Sister Lisa Laycock head the Santiago Chile East Mission and had spent the two weeks prior to the 8.8 earthquake visiting each missionary apartment and preparing them for an earthquake."

Sister Laycock writes this open letter to tell us how the Lord prepared them for the earthquake. They have ". . . 171 full-time proselyting missionaries in this mission."

"When we were set apart for this calling, Elder Scott of the Council of the Twelve Apostles taught us many important lessons." " One message that he shared with us is this: 'At times, during your mission, you will be awakened in the middle of the night or the early morning hours with thoughts of specific things you should do for certain missionaries. Do not ignore these thoughts.' "

"Nearly two-and-one-half weeks ago, I (Sister Laycock) was awakened at around 4:00 AM by just such a prompting. I did not hear a voice, but the thought was as clear as if it had been in the form of spoken words: 'There is going to be an earthquake. Prepare your missionaries.' I sat up in bed and immediately remembered Elder Scott's counsel. That morning I told Larry what had happened. He immediately set to work organizing our missionaries to prepare for an earthquake."

"We set a goal and arranged our schedule so that we could visit every apartment in the mission to check for safety and to review with our missionaries what to do in case of an earth quake. What a wonderful experience we have had as we have met with them and shared scriptures with them about being spiritually and physically prepared. "...if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear" (D&C 38:30)."

"When the earthquake came, we were prepared. We did not experience the panic that many felt. We knew we were prepared. Because of the words of the Lord's chosen Apostle, Elder Scott, we had listened and heeded the quiet, but clear promptings of the Holy Ghost. We were blessed with peace in the midst of chaos."

I think that this clearly demonstrate the other part of why missionary mothers and fathers can sleep well at night. Besides all of the organization and people to watch out for the missionaries, the Lord is actively involved with the missionary effort and His angels are there to protect his missionaries, sometimes in spite of all of us. Frankly, I was more anxious about my son and daughters going away to camp or to college than I was for them going on their missions. I believe that there is no safer place for 19-20 year old people in the world. Here is a look at the Santiago Chile missionaries, almost three times the number of missionaries as in Novosibirsk.

Even without an earthquake or some other threatening situation, mission presidents, and especially their wives, are getting instructions from the Lord regularly, and I know that as I watch President Trejo work with matters needing his thoughtful and inspired decision, he is getting messages all of the time and his leadership shows the footprint of the Lord. It is a great comfort to know that our mission president is actively seeking and getting the messages from the true head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

What a Church. What a country.
DS

Missionary Mothers

2010-03-02T20:58:00.000+06:00

Weather -- Bright sun, warming
Temp-- minus 12C (+10F)
Wind -- Easterly 5-7 mph

A comment on my "Miss and not Miss" blog made me reflect on you mothers who are sending sons and daughters on missions, particularly to Siberia, and I want to comment on that a bit. We sent three children, well, they weren't children, and that's the core of the matter, where was I? Oh yes, we sent three of our children on missions. One to Illinois, one to Korea, and one to Temple Square. We didn't send anyone to a place like Siberia, but maybe we did.

In any case, we, and you, are part of that heroic group of parents who, like Samuel's mother in the Old Testament, gave their children to the Lord's service before we were really ready to let them go altogether. With three of the four children now in their 30's, I know that you don't really EVER let your children go completely, but there is a time when your influence and even your duty takes a peripheral role instead of a primary one.

That being said, let me relate to your comment about spending more time on our knees now that you are sending your son to Siberia. I understand. I don't know if this will make it any easier or allow you to sleep better, but let me share, again, how the Church, and specifically we here in Novosibirsk care for your missionary.

First they get 3 months of training at the Provo Missionary Training Center and they would have to be brain and spiritually dead to not be impacted by that experience. When they finally get to the mission they get a full day of instruction from the Mission President and the Assistants to the President. The next day they get a thorough orientation from the Mission Secretary, in this case its sister Simmons. Then I instruct them on the cell phone, ATM cards, and financial matters. When they get to their assigned city, they are put in the care of a Trainer, who has been in the mission a good long time, to spend 6 weeks learning how to be a missionary in the field. They have a senior couple either living in their city or assigned to mentor their city from an adjoining city.

The missionary is never alone except in the shower and the toilet. They learn to watch out for their companion and to be watched. It is a partnership and they learn to be a good partner during this first 6 weeks. He/she may stay with the trainer for a second transfer (6 weeks) or be assigned to a senior companion where further training and experience is gained. They work on the language, the discussions, the behaviors and demeanor of a missionary, proper relations with member and investigators, contacting, lesson planning, teaching, and everything they will need to know.

The missionary housing is inspected each transfer. Anything they need for their safety or comfort is provided by the mission, and there is an extraordinary amount of money spent to insure the well being of each missionary. I know. I pay it. There is also an extraordinary amount of effort expended by the entire mission organization to ensure the success of each new missionary and nothing we know of is spared to develop the missionary into what he/she came here to be.

Missionary mom, we know that God could not be everywhere so He made moms. Well, when you can't be everywhere, God called a Mission President, assistants to the mission President, senior missionary couples, an office couple, and the best of the best missionaries to come to Siberia just to watch out for your son or daughter. Even the members like these take a personal interest in the new missionaries.

We honor you for preparing your missionary for this great challenge and we take this responsibility very seriously. I can tell you personally that we as the office couple have taken these missionaries into our hearts, into our lives, and into our personal care. They are our sons and daughters in every sense and we hope that you will know in your heart that all I have told you here is true. They are gone from you, but they are come to us and we will take good care of them.

What a great opportunity. What a country.
DS

Things I Will Miss--Things I Will NOT Miss

2010-02-25T22:13:00.003+06:00

Weather--Snowing, heavy wind, alternating clouds and sun.
Temperature--Minus 8.7 C (+16F)
Wind gusting to 40 mph

I have begun making a list of the things that I will miss and not miss when I go home. I would like to share them with you.

The list of things I will miss is the shortest and easiest to cover here. It includes:

The first that comes to mind is the missionaries. I have said this so many time that it is in danger of becoming trite, but, these young people are the highlight of our mission. There is no question about the high caliber of people being sent to our mission. Without question, they are chronologically young, but incredibly mature in the Gospel. Spiritually, they are bright lights in a dark place, maybe even brighter because of the darkness, and people-on-the-street have noticed the actual light around them and have even tried to capture it with a camera. The Light of Christ in them, along with their own spiritual light, is undeniable and a great comfort to us. These are the Lord's annointed for the preaching of the Gospel and they, along with their angels, are powerful beings on the Lord's errand.

A close second on this list is the group of young adults in Novosibirsk with whom we have had a close relationship these past 21 months. I have met many of the others from various other cities and they are equally quality young people, but it is the Novo YSA group that I will sincerely miss. They are open, loving, enthusiastically involved in everything and willing to do almost anything. Most of them are either working or still at the university with most of life in front of them. Six of our strongest ones have left during the past year on missions somewhere in Russia. They go to the MTC for a month and then they are returned to Russia to their mission of service.

Another thing we will miss is SKYPING with our family. We will be close to at least one child and grand children when we return home, but we will still be using SKYPE to keep in touch with the rest of the family. However, there is something unique about being half-way around the world and talking in real time with someone over your computer.

Our 9th floor window is my periscope on the world. I can stand there and watch the world below while shaving, getting dressed, or just daydreaming. We can see the Ob river, the Left Bank, the train track, the main roads to our west and the buildings to the right near the neighborhood administration building. I can watch the construction workers across the street, the foot traffic along the street, the local dogs and birds, the college students going to their classes west of us, and the fireworks when people get married or on holidays.

The Gushchins and the Ozherelevs will certainly be missed. Yuri Gushchin is our mission driver and a real prince of a man. Natalia Gushchina is our office librarian and cleaner. She speaks pretty good English and is our link to Yuri. She is also a good friend and we love them both. Sasha and Lenna Ozherelev are in their late 20's and very enjoyable for us. Sasha is the physical facilities man for the mission and Lenna is Cindy's professional seamstress. She can make anything and Sasha can fix anything. He also loves root beer and I intend to leave him whatever extract I have left when we leave. They also like "Hand and Foot". All four of them take especially good care of us and we call them our "kresha" which means your roof, your protection. A very important concept in Russia.

Some things I will not miss . . .
Where do I begin . . . no, really the list is not all that long, and frankly I can deal with it all. It is just that I will not remember them fondly.

First, the cold. This is something you just never get used to. Even the Siberians hate the cold. You can dress for it and you can function in it, but it goes through you like a knife. "It stings your toes and bites your nose . . ." and any exposed skin at -35 is soon a victim if not covered quickly. It penetrates everything, even the double-pane windows. I got these pictures of ice forming on the INSIDE of our windows to prove just how cold it can get here. When we sleep with the window wedged open with a water bottle, it is always frozen in the morning and we often have snow on the window sill.

The elevator in our building. This is another of those inanimate objects with an attitude. It will stop between floors and shut off the lights whenever it wants. It will go on the blink on the day you shop and bring home 12 bags of groceries that you, and the Elders, will have to carry up 9 floors. It doesn't like jumping in the car, more than 4 people, loud noises, or 10th, 14th, or 23rd of any given month.However, it will tolerate trash, spilled beer, melting snow, various forms of excrement, and anyone who speaks Russian.

Washing the vegetables is also near the top of the list. We usually go shopping, with Yuri Gushchin's help, on Wednesday mornings, in company with the office elders, and drop our bags at the apartment before returning to the office for the balance of the day. Regardless of the time we come home from the office, I never get started washing until 9 or 10pm. Then it is a 3-4 hour project to wash, chlorinate, rinse, and put away the produce that often includes 10-12 lettuce plants, cucumbers, tomatoes (if you can call them that) potatoes, onions, celery (on occasion), asparagus (on occasion), broccoli, cauliflower, pineapple, eggs, and other assorted things that we eat raw. I don't get to bed before 1AM ever on Wednesdays and often later.

Our apartment is not so bad, although I won't miss the pealing wallpaper or the need for extension cords, but the washing machine is truly the most forgettable. I did a whole posting on that process last year and it still goes on. Whatever I am doing, washing takes a big chunk of my time. After all, you long-timers know that I am in charge of washing and world peace and clothes washing is a real time consumer.

The dogs are another thing I won't miss. As you know, I was concerned for the 9 puppies that were born in the construction site across the street early in the winter, but now that they have grown to maturity, I am ready for them to demise. I mean really, who needs 15 dogs running in a pack all night (9 puppies, three adults, and 3 other strays that have joined them) barking, baying, whining, and barking some more. I watched one of the younger ones down below our window bark continuously for at least 10 minutes, apparently calling its siblings. Finally the pack shows up amid the usual barking, jumping, licking, mock-fighting, and then all troop off for a new adventure somewhere to the west. I WON'T miss that.

Finally, I won't miss the gulag mentality I see in many non-LDS people, the knowing that life is crummy, but enduring, suffering, scrambling, scratching, taking, misusing, defrauding, abusing, living a hedonistic lifestyle of the hopeless but getting all they can in spite of it instead of working, learning, growing, improving, giving, serving. These people have an enormous capacity to suffer and endure, while brutally using whatever power or strength they have to get whatever they can from fellow inmates. It is just heartbreaking.

On the other hand, the members we know are the lights and life of our time here. They have hope. They have vision. They know who they are and what life is about. Their lives are not any better, but they are living it better. They are riding the wave instead of being dumped on. I love them so much.

What a country
DS

The Lost Name Tags

2010-02-23T22:04:00.000+06:00

Weather--Clear and warming
Temp--Minus 1.7 (30F)
Wind--Strong 18-25 mph

After 21 months in the mission field, I lost my name tags SOMEWHERE. I have worn that tag daily and managed to keep track of it all this time. What went wrong?

I cannot believe that it just jumped off my coat lapel because it has an alligator clip with very strong teeth and it could not just fall off. Maybe it doesn't want to go home. Maybe this is another of those inanimate objects that has developed some sort of intelligence and is making its own decisions.

I cannot blame it for wanting to stay here and if it had just talked to me about how it feels, I would have worked something out. I have several extra ones that I could use and could have just clipped it to the curtain and that would have been OK with me, but it just seems to have taken things into its own, well, hands? No, its own teeth. I am just disappointed that it felt that we couldn't talk this thing out and found a compromise somehow.

Other missionary's name tags seem perfectly content to go home with their owners. Owners? Well yes, these objects, particularly name tags are named after the person who does, actually, own them. Look at how content Elder Tanner's and Elder Swenson's name tags seem to be on their shirts. No contention. No independent thought or action; just doing their name-tag-things like they were created to do.

If any name tag would be independent thinking, it would be Elder Olson's. He was a self-motivated independent thinking young man with his own ideas. Although a great Financial Elder, he had his own direciton. Now, that could infect a name tag with all kinds of ideas about finding itself and making a statement, but no. His name tag filled the measure of its creation and did its job.

Now, Elder Ahuna. There's a real potential for name tag rebellion. This elder is so relaxed, I would not be surprised to see his name tag do almost anything including being AWOL. I don't think that there is a tense centimeter on his entire frame. He is a friend to everyone and OK with anything, BUT, now that I think about it, his shirt tail HAS been showing signs of imitating his relaxed demeanor by hanging out and refusing to be tucked in. That's right! Another case of attitude infection of an inanimate object. This could be worthy of further study. zzzzzz

Thank goodness our new missionaries don't seem to have this problem. It's hard enough coming into the mission field with so much new without having your name tag giving you fits. Sister Fesenko here is showing great name tag control and discipline. She even has the same clip that mine has and hers is behaving just right. It's a sign of complete control when everything works as it should.

Whatever the cause, I am anxious to find and reconnect with my name tag and maybe come to some agreement on what's expected of it.

Maybe then it will become an agent of change and be good influence on my pens that also seem to be unwilling to stay where I put them. They must share a common ancestor with this name tag.

What a country

Odds and Ends Observations 2/13/10

2010-02-23T19:05:00.000+06:00

Weather--Overcast with light snow
Temp--minus 22C (-7F)
Wind--10-12 mph from the west

I have made many observations from our 9th floor bedroom window and while walking or riding around our limited area of experience. Surely these cannot be generalized beyond my actual experience, but they COULD be a microcosm of the activity all over Siberia for all I know.

One of my observations is that I see people walking alone down our street at all hours of the day and night; alone. I mean, at 3:00 AM when Sister Cindy has finished her last email and run completely out of things on her list, I can stand at my side of the bed, next to the window, and see one or two people walking down the street solo. It seems interesting that ANYONE would be on the street at that hour, it seems strange to me that I would be up to observe this phenomenon at 3AM, walking alone from somewhere to somewhere, alone. The streets must be considered safe to be alone at a time when only criminals and the homeless are afoot.

Another observation is associated with the elevator. As we stepped into it tonight we looked down to see 4-5 hand-print-size puddles of liquid about 1/4 inch deep. With our 20+ month experience with puddles in our building and particularly in the elevator, we both looked at one another and said, "I hope that's melted snow."

An associated observation is the fauna and flora on our 18 staircases as we go to the office each day. As we walk down the stairs each morning we have to dodge what has been left on the stairs by our, usually young, neighbors and their friends. We pick our way amid the cigarette buts, partially consumed cans and bottles of various liquids, the by-products of apartment remodeling, and puddles of vomit, some of which are thoughtfully absorbed by notebook paper that is now dried and permanently stuck to the stair.

We had a puddle of used spaghetti in front of the elevator two months ago that, rather than being removed by the donor, just soaked into the unsealed concrete floor for several weeks along with being tracked away by the shoes of those running the gauntlet of obstacles on our stairs. It is hard to believe that the donors of these various deposits don't get it. I has to be that they are so sick, or drunk, that the issue of cleaning up is simply beyond them. Logic would suggest that the donors must be visitors to our building because if you lived here you would not tolerate your own mess for very long; would you?

The fauna consists mostly of the stuffed animals in our living room. As soon as the YSA kids come into the room, they grab one of them and hug them the whole evening. Even the missionaries, mostly the sisters, hug the toys, but even many of the elders seem to get some real comfort from them. When sister Cindy started buying them at Ikea, I objected. Now I see the wisdom in it and am glad that we have them. Here, Anya Kovalenko demonstrates her technique with the panda. Anya is a returned missionary from Japan. She was also my choir pianist, my translator, and a good friend, one of those who has moves from Novo for work in Moscow. We miss her a lot.

I have mentioned the cars that start, run, and turn off multiple times during the night. I can look out the window at various times of the night and see the hazard lights flashing on the street, in the parking lot across the street, and in our own parking lot. It is kinda creepy to walk through the parking lot past blinking, driver-less cars with running motors each building its parking-lot volcanoes beneath their tailpipes.

Russians want to be friendly and occasionally we get a glimpse of that. This past week, a young lady pushing a pram (for you in Rio Linda that's a baby buggy) caught up with us and starting asking us something. I gave her my usual "don't speak Russian" response and with limited English and gestures she asked if we bought our shoe-chains (Yak Traks) in Russia. We said no, but maybe they were available. Sister Cindy immediately wanted to see the baby and bonded with the young mom.

She asked the lady for her cell phone number and promised to call her with some information. Now, you have to picture this, I have a 22 pound briefcase slung over my head and left shoulder, cutting off my circulation while we are standing there, and Sister Cindy starts pulling on my coat, trying to get at a pen for her to write her phone number. After the lady writes the number, Sister Cindy tries to tell her where we live. Then she gets real aggressive and tries to expose my name tag while she explains that we are missionaries. The young lady, somewhat amused and a little disappointed said, "I know. I live across the hall from you."

Of course, we have seen her several times and I once helped her down the stairs between the elevator and the exit door with her pram, but we did not recognize her in all the clothes we all have to wear. We all laughed and she was genuinely pleased to make the connection. It seems that her grandmother slipped on the ice and she saw our shoe-chains as a possible solution. Nice lady.

A little farther on, as we approached the office on the driveway, a lady in a full-length mink coat approached us and, smiling, said something in Russian, I gave her my usual answer and added, "Amerikanski". She smiled broadly, apologized and waved as she walked on. It was a very pleasant encounter.

I will have more observations from the 9th floor window, but I need to get this posted so my readers don't get discouraged and quit checking in. Reason: I have a secret goal to get 1,000,000 hits on the blog before we go home in April. At first I thought that no one would read this but family. Then when I put the counter on the blog and saw that over 100,000 hits had occurred, I sort of checked on the count every once in a while and watched it grow. Now that it is over 900,000 the one million mark is not so far fetched. We'll see.

We love our mission here and the people we know. Even the people we just see and meet periodically like the checkers at Megas (supermarket) or the Metro guards, or the security guard in the Zoloni Kupola (green roof) building where we have church call up from my heart a sincere love. I have heard it said by other senior couples that you are filled with God's love for the people, but I doubted it; just missionary hype. Well, it's true. I am filled with love for all of these people, even the ones who don't look at or talk to us or those who donate the stuff to our stairs, or the drunk teenagers who congregate on our landing and leave sunflower seeds all over. I love them as brothers and sisters and cannot help myself. It is a gift God gives his missionaries to allow them to lov strangers. It is a neat feeling.

What a feeling. What a country.
DS

The Last Visa Trip 2/5/10

2010-02-09T22:07:00.001+06:00

Weather -- Gathering overcast
Temp -- minus 21F (-29C)
Wind -- 3-5 mph from southwest

Last Monday we returned from our last visa renewal trip. This is a sorta benchmark because as you all know we have had to leave the country every 90 days to renew our Russian visas and those trips usually take about 5 days; some longer. Where else could you go on a mission and get a 5 day trip to exotic places like Madrid, Prague, Riga, Almaty, Kiev, and Helsinki every three months? Come on you retirees. The Novosibirsk Mission needs you and you need this great experience. Nicki, come on--these are your people!

The morning we left it was -37C (-34.5F), but it didn't feel much more than -20. Look how we have become acclimated in 20 months. A warm day is -10 and we have to consider wearing something lighter.

We landed in the new Terminal D in Moscow and would have had to change terminals to Sheremetyevo International Airport, Terminal 2 by shuttle bus except we got picked up by a van arranged for by our friends at the U.S. Embassy. We needed to meet with the people in the American Citizens Services department who service and track American Residents in Russia to discuss how best to register our missionaries with the embassy. We met them several months ago when they visited Novosibirsk and came to our apartment for lunch. These employees of our government are not the stereotypical government workers. They are genuinely very nice, fun people and very concerned about serving the needs of U.S. citizens in Russia. I cannot praise them enough for being so dedicated to my personal welfare. I have some nice pictures of them in our apartment but for security reasons I will not publish them.

After our embassy visit, we wanted to visit the Moscow Central Baptist Church where Ezra Taft Benson visited and spoke in 1956 on a tour to evaluate the humanitarian needs in eastern Europe. He bore a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and the Plan of Salvation right in front of his government guides and guards. Recently, President Uchtdorf visited the same church while on a tour of the Europe East Area with Neil L. Anderson. It has become quite famous among those who know its history.

We had a bit of trouble finding it even with the directions of the embassy folks and our local driver, but we finally located it and had a wonderful visit. When we went inside, the "guard" came out of his little office, greeted us and when he learned that we were Americans who had come to visit his famous church, I think he knew who we were and was both helpful and gracious in letting us take pictures and telling us of the church's history. He even found an English-speaking lady who told us about the building. Here, Sister Cindy is taking in the moment of victory as she finally got to see the church after two years of plans that fell through.

This was the culmination of a dream for Sister Cindy. Ever since we came to Russia and had to pass through Moscow twice on our visa trips, she has wanted to visit here. Here she shows the #2 Pastor and the watchman the articles about Elder Benson in 1956 and President Uchtdorf in 2009. We first became aware of the then Secretary of Agriculture Benson's visit when we were coming to the USSR in 1990 with the Sister City tour to Moldavia. Our friend Charlene Hunt told us about it and felt that we needed to make a pamphlet about it to take with us and . . . well, that's another story, but our interest in this church goes back that far. It was such a joy to finally BE there to see and feel the place we had talked about to those Gospel-hungry people we found almost 20 years ago. Wow, what a thrill.

The rest of the trip to Helsinki and our hotel was pretty routine. During the three days we stayed downtown we shopped, attended a concert, ate, walked, took a bus tour, and generally enjoyed a beautiful city amid the falling snow and visibly pleasant people; with few exceptions, the Helsinkians are courteous, happy, and helpful.

We especially enjoyed the concert and the eating. The concert by the Helsinki Philharmonic featured a Sibelius concerto what was outstanding. The eating included an ice-bound sailing schooner and the Chapel. The schooner is moored at the dock near what would be the craft fair on the waterfront during the warm months. Even now the fur dealers and fish mongers were there in tents amid the falling snow.

The Chapel has an interesting story we learned during our bus tour of the city. In the early days of the city, its western boundary was what is now a boulevard that lines a 5-block long park that ends at the marina. The park was a meadow where a sheepherder tended his sheep and lived in a shack that stood there for many decades after his death; known as the chapel. When the park was dedicated and the roads extended, a cafe was located on the site of the chapel and took the same name. It was built in the mid 19th century of iron and glass and has become a landmark as well as a great restaurant. Of course, I had the lamb and garlic potatoes; heavenly.

Friday night we moved to the Temple "Guest House" which is a hostel build just south of the Temple. The accommodations are spartan, but clean and comfortable considering that it is fully occupied Sunday through Friday with patrons from as far away as Ulan-Ude who must travel 3 days, stay 5 days, and return for 3 days on each trip. Most have only been able to attend the Temple once in their lifetime because of the time and cost. Attending a session and doing other work was highlight of our trip.

Another highlight was having lunch with a member of the Helsinki stake presidency, Ilkaa Aura, who was a teenage exchange student with a Utah family many years ago. Our traveling companions, the Moleffs, have a son-in-law from that family and got us connected with him. On the way to his home he showed us a place on the Baltic Sea that the city plows in an oval and people cross-country skate. It was so unusual to be standing ON the Baltic. We saw skaters from infants in carriages to grandparents. There was even several skaters using parachutes like the wind-surfers in Hawaii.

Ilkaa took us to his home for a wonderful lunch of typical Finnish fare that included smoked/baked salmon, smoked trout, potatoes in creme, mung bean sprouts, cheese, and reindeer salami. We met his new wife Paula, his first wife died last year and he married this lady just a few months ago. She is only a couple of years younger than he and had never been married. What a great lady and so gracious. I didn't even mind when she poured black licorice syrup over her ice cream. I love new things, but that was way beyond my tolerance for the exotic.

Sunday we drove with several of the temple missionaries through a pretty good snow storm about 45 minutes to a ward conference in the Helsinki Stake and enjoyed their block meetings with the help of an interpreter most of the time. Three cute sisters sang the special musical number. They were so cute and right on pitch.

After the block, we had an extra surprise; another Finnish meal. This time it was to celebrate their conference meeting and starred salmon soup, bread, and a table full of beautiful desserts. I enjoyed it all.

We have enjoyed our visa trips, but I am glad they are over. The short trips are exhausting, the time difference is confusing to my body, and the uncertainty of the government officials all combine to make these trips primarily a disruption in the work. I am grateful for the work of Olga, Pyotr, Sister Cindy and all the embassy and Moscow central office to make sure we get there and back safely.

What a trip. What a country
D.S.

Pillow-Talk in Novosibirsk 2/4/10

2010-02-05T01:12:00.002+06:00

Weather -- Clear and Sunny
Temp -- minus 10F (-17C)
Wind -- 7-10 mph from the east

Pillow-talk is a little different here in the mission. For you single people, this is the time between going to bed and and sleeping that most women use to communicate with their husbands about the events of the day because they are hardwired with this special calendar in their heads attached to a mental notebook that are both activated when they get horizontal.

Below, Brian and I are having a little pillow-talk, but it isn't the same thing.

At a time when a man's thoughts are either on romance or sleep, his wife's systems are cascading dates, names, needs, he-said/she-said dialogues, and honey-do list items that would choke a horse. As this dialogue continues, the husband's inclination for romance is permanently stifled and sleep is his only refuge, but as the wife senses his relaxation she ups the volume or employs the elbow to be sure that he gets the entire message. If all else fails, early the next day she will "remind" him of what he agreed to last night while he was trying to go to sleep and he is defenseless.

Well, here in the mission field the process continues unabated, but the topics revolve around the situations, people, and commitments of the mission plus one new category; metabolic processes. To try and keep this blog "family friendly" and socially acceptable I will euphemize the dialogue so as not to offend the sensibilities of the reader, but please realize that these additional pillow-talk topics are important to older couples out in the mission field away from their usual remedies, medicines, doctors, exercise routines, and other helps to stay healthy and mobile.

Below, Grammy Cindy is having a little pillow-talk with Hannah (number three grandchild), but that's not the same either.

Sister Cindy is undoubtedly going to take me to task about this blog, accusing me of various insensitivities and generally massive poor judgment, but I write this for two purposes. One, to let you parents know the struggles and challenges of we older missionaries that the young ones don't have, and two, to let the older readers see that these things can be dealt with, overcome, or avoided and that they should not let their fears of such keep them from serving away from home. I will probably treat all of this with some attempt at humor, but that's how I cope with difficult things.

Recently, a pillow-talk session went something like this.
Sister Cindy, "I love you. Thanks for all your work today."
Me, "You're welcome, I love to serve. You worked hard too"
SC, "What did you weigh tonight?"
IMe, "I didn't want to know."
SC, "Well, get up and weigh yourself. You need to keep on top of this."
Me, "Mumble, mumble." Returning to bed, "196".
SC, "Was that net or gross?" (I subtract the weight of my garments, watch, glasses, etc to estimate my true weight and keep the number as low as possible)
Me, "Net of course. It is always net. Why do you always ask that?"
SC, "I just want to be sure."
Me, "Well, it's net, always net."

SC, "Did you p_ _ p today.
Me, "No"
SC, "You need to get up and take some Yucky Tea." (This is an herb tea that is a blood cleanser with some definite lower track impact)
Me, "Mumble, mumble". Returning to bed, "I drank the last of it. You will need to make some more."
SC, "Did you drink it ALL?"
Me, "Not the dregs. I hate the floaties."
SC, "That's the best part for you."
Me, "I hate the floaties."
SC. "You need to drink more water. I made an appointment with the dentist for Friday night to fix my other broken filling. Can you stay at the office while Olga and I go to the dentist or do you want to come home before I go? Oh, I can't leave you alone at home or the office. Maybe the office elders will stay with you."
Me, "I can stay at the office and I promise not to leave and fall down on the ice."
SC, "I don't know. Maybe I should cancel that appointment. You should call the office elders and get them to stay late."
Me, "It's 2:15 am. I'm not calling the office elders now."
SC, "I know that. Just be sure to call them in the morning. I'll write that on my list for tomorrow." (gets out of bed, goes to the kitchen and writes down that I should call them) (returning to bed) "I wrote it down. Now be sure to call them."
Me, "Cindy, it will be fine for me to stay at the office. I promise not to do anything life-threatening."
SC, "Do you need any cleaning supplies at the store? President Gushchin will pick us up at 9:00 am for shopping."
Me, "Blue Fairy and some bleach."
SC, "Do we have plenty of toilet paper?"
Me, "We have at least 8 rolls in the toilet."
SC, "Maybe you should bet another 4 just in case."

Me, "In case of what?"
SC, "Just to be sure. Are you keeping water in the humidifier?"
Me, "Yes."
SC, "I had another nosebleed this morning. Are you sure you are keeping it going?"
Me, "Yes. Are we done?"
SC, "Did I start the dishwasher?"
Me, "I don't know."
SC, "Can you go look?"
Me, "Sure, I love to serve."
SC, "The Left-bank Sisters will bring their investigator to dinner and a lesson tomorrow at 5. We need to leave the office at 4. OK?"
Me, "OK. Are we done?"
SC, "Are you keeping up on your blood pressure pills?
Me, "Pretty much."
SC, "What's pretty much?"
Me, "I missed a couple of days but I'm pretty much regular. Are we done?"
SC, "How are you doing on our taxes? Can you be done by the end of the week?"
Me, "Hmm, mumble."
SC, "Are you sleeping?
Me, "No, I'm just looking at my ideas like the guide in Guatemala."
SC, "Don't you go to sleep yet."
Me, "What was the question?"
SC, "Can you finish the taxes this week?"
Me, "I think so. Are we done?"

SC, "I think so." Kiss "Good night"
Me, "Good night. I love you. Roll over and don't snore"
SC, "No, YOU rollover and don't snore. Roll over! Straighten out your legs. You are in my space."
Me, "I would have to get out of the bed not to be in your space."
SC, "Come on . . . move your legs just a little. There, now I can cuddle up to your back."
Me, "I love you."
SC, "I love you too."

Well, that's pillow-talk in the mission for a couple of 67 year old missionaries. I love my companion and I'm glad I don't have to worry about where I am going to be transferred every 6 weeks.

Noting the picture to the right, you would think that it would be easy to control someone smaller than yourself, but it is the other way around. Without her, I would probably weigh 250, have high blood pressure, and starve, but I would get more sleep.

What a partner. What a country.
DS

A little Housekeeping, Wisdom from the Couples, & Tailpipes 1/24/10

2010-01-25T23:49:00.007+06:00

Weather
Clear & not so cold
Temp 0F
Wind 4 mph NNW

Answer to a comment:
Yes Carol, the Galbraiths were the second mission president here in Novosibirsk. It is interesting how much in our lives connect to others isn't it. The grandson of some friends who formerly lived in Sacramento served here during the early part of our mission. One of our missionaries grandmother is in the same ward as the son of our new office couple (replacing us) and responded to their mention of Novosibirsk. It's fun. You live in my mother's birthplace. She was an Anderson, her mother was a Harris. Know any of them?

More wisdom from the Senior Couples

At our Senior Missionary Couples Conference we exchanged a lot of stories and some introspection. Among the latter was a list of reasons for seniors to go on a mission. These were contributed by our missionaries, two of which have served prior missions.

Get to do things you can't do at home
Put yourself where good things will happen
Just show up, the Lord will do the rest. If you don't come, you will miss the blessings
Go and find out what you are. A Greeny (first time missionary) is either a moth or a butterfly
Become more aware of spiritual influences
It is not a sacrifice. The only real sacrifice was made by Christ
God grows you up while you grow the Church

Here are a few pictures of our senior couples putting themselves where good things happen. First is the Holmes in Barnaul. It became known that they were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and the Branch members put on a Russian wedding for them. Here is sister Holmes in full costume for the party.

Here are the two "newly weds" ready for the traditional bread, salt, and dance.

Another of our fun-loving seniors on the ice slide in Irkutsk. You can't say that we older folks don't know how to have fun.

Sister Southam is the one on the right in missionary attire going down the slide. Rumor is that she went twice.

Fun observation

An interesting thing I have seen on the way to the office and elsewhere is cones of ice in parking lots. Some may be 8-10 inches high/ I saw one that looked to by a foot high. At first I was mystified, but soon it became clear; car exhaust. It is quite simple when you think about it. Here is a quote from a web site about water coming from a car exhaust.

"Gasoline does not contain water, as has been claimed in some other answers. However, water is a by-product of the combustion of gasoline. Gasoline does contain hydrogen, and when gasoline is burned, some of that hydrogen combines with the oxygen being used to burn it, producing water.

Most of the time, the exhaust is hot enough that the water remains in the form of invisible water vapor. When the engine is cold, the exhaust pipe is cold, or the outside air is cold, this water may condense and become visible as "steam" or as liquid water dripping from the tailpipe."

Well, sure enough, that is what I was seeing. Here in Siberia, the drivers run their engines for anywhere from minutes to almost an hour to warm up the engine before driving. I don't know if it is necessary, but almost everyone does it. Some of the newer cars even have remote starting features so that you can start your car while eating breakfast and have it warmed up by the time you hit the parking lot. This would cause water to condense on the cold exhause pipe and produce lots of water until the catalytic converter gets hot enough to prevent it.

From our window I often see cars parked below with the hazards blinking randomly as if someone was clicking the electronic locks. I think this is related to that remote starting feature. Someone told me that even some of them have clocks that cause the car to start periodically during the night to prevent cold damage. I'm not really sure of that.

I tried to find some cool (pardon the pun) pictures of these water cones on the internet and came up empty. I will try and get some over the next few mornings.

You just never know what you will see next here in Siberia.

What a country.
DS

I'm Back 1/23/10 & The Couples Conference 1/19-21/10

2010-01-24T00:24:00.000+06:00

Weather--clear and warming
Temp--minus 10F
Wind--calm

Thank you for the inquires into my condition. I have been absent from the cyber-scene due to some back problems that made it difficult to sit a long time at the computer. A couple of days ago I had considered paying someone to shoot me, but got a blessing and a message to be patient. I am doing better with a few days rest. I would have preferred a healing blessing, but Heavenly Father had other ideas. I'm working on patience.

Twice a year, if we are lucky, the mission president organizes a Couples Conference where the senior couples gather in one spot to be instructed, to share information, and to laugh. The laughing part is the best and I will touch that in a minute.

We have seven senior couples in the mission plus the mission president. The are:
The Moleffs in Ulan-Ude
The Southams in Irkutsk
The Royers in Krasnoyarsk
The Simmons in Novosibirsk
The Millers in Novosibirsk
The Trejos in Novosibirsk (Mission President)

The Holmes in Barnaul
The Nickoliasens in Omsk

These couples serve as the eyes and ears of the mission president as well as his arms and hands. He travels to each city every 6 weeks, interviews the missionaries, conducts a training conference, and interviews the branch leadership. He is the highest eclesiastical authority in the mission and acts as a "stake president" relating to certain church matters. The men in this group are the only High Priests in the mission. To those of you not LDS, the significance of this is that the High Priests are those who have been called and ordained to administrative positions in Church government and those callings are generated after a Stake is created. The high priests are the ones charged with ministering and administering in the Lord's church relating to its policies and organization.

They also serve as surrogate grandparents to the missionaries, not as parents because they are not invested in, or critical of, their every behavior or decision, but as grandparents who love them in spite of everything, listen to their woes and celebrations with equal interest, and give them a little advice when asked. Most of all, they love them, they feed them, they love them, they support and encourage them, they love them, they try to guide them away from danger, and they love them. That's why grandparents and grandchildren get along so well; they share a common problem.

We are no exception. We do all this and work in the office as well. It is a real balancing act to be available whenever they want to use our apartment, have a meal with an investigator, or just need a hug, but sister Simmons is committed to doing whatever they seem to need and I am in a supporting role, even when they call mid afternoon asking if they can meet in our home with this GREAT investigator they just met.

The best part of a couples conference is that you laugh a lot. You can sit around a table and share experiences that no one in the world would appreciate except one another because we have all had similar ones. We are each going to go home and try to tell our friends about our missions and they are going to look at us stoney-faced and have no appreciation for the humor in it.

Example:
Sister Simmons four rules in Russia (and my corollary) are (1) It doesn't have to make sense; (2) It doesn't have to match; (3) If you see it and you want it, buy it NOW; (4) It really doesn't matter. My corollary is if it is physically possible, someone will try it regardless of the consequences.

Now, to this group of senior missionaries, these not only make sense, but they elicit their own examples of each rule and we all understand and laugh. The one group we will not tell these stories to is the couple who have just been called on a 23 month mission to Russia. We made the mistake of going to lunch with two couples who had served in Russia and by the time lunch was over, I was about one inch from calling the missionary department and asking for a reassignment to Florence Nebraska.

On day two of the conference we invited Brat Pyotr to come and recount the history of the mission and his experiences with the establishment of the Church in Siberia. It was not only most interesting, but also enlightening to hear about the struggles to open each of the cities and the sacrifice of the missionaries and members which we now could more fully appreciate.

Later that afternoon, we all geared up (-29F) and walked several blocks past the park to the city museum where we saw very good exhibits about Siberia's history and how things came to be. The picture above was on our way as we passed a grove of trees covered with hoarfrost. During that visit, we were invited to see a fashion show and dance demonstration on the second floor.

Without understanding the language, it was my understanding that the costumes and "fashions" were original and several awards were presented before the show. The children were cute as usual, but I couldn't get a good picture with my little Sony, same with the "fachions" except this one I named the "moth". It was certainly unique, but was way beyond my understanding of fashion.

In the basement coat room I caught this picture of a dad getting his daughter ready for the trip outside. No matter where you go in Russia you see parents taking special pains to protect children from the cold. She was so patient and he was so careful. I loved the scene.

After the museum we inspected the snow sculptures. These are done by artists from different cities in competition. They begin with a big, bottomless box into which they pack snow, watering down each laer. The box is removed and the artist forms the block of snow/ice into the desired design. Here are some of the entries. The frozen folks at the top are yours truly and sister truly. Hard to see in all that fluff, huh.

Are we having fun yet?

From the snow sculptures, we headed to the restaurant called Mexico. The food is fair but it is close to downtown and walking distance to the mission home. We all had salad and chicken Fajitas and lots of salsa & chips. Fun time.

After dinner we returned to the mission home where I showed some pictures of the Holy Land and gave some explanation of them. Sometimes I relay more than I know, but in this group there is too much experience to go very far astray.

Finally we were entertained by the office elders, Elder Byers and Elder Ahuna. Elder Byers sang a lovely and touching rendition of I Know Heavenly Father Loves Me. He was formerly with the BYU Men's Chorus and has written and recorded his own music; quite a talent.

The final event was an unlikely combination; a Hawaiian doing the Navaho Hoop Dance. He uses twenty-three hoopes and it is very entertaining.

This was a great event for us, mostly for the comradery and the laughing. It is so theraputic to be with people who understand what your life is like and what you experience. It is too bad that we all live so far apart, but it is not about us; it's about the missionaries and the Lord's work.

We love our mission and our missionaries. This was just a rest from life as we know it.

What a fun event. What a country.
DS

The View from the 9th Floor of Bits of Siberian Domesticity 1/3/10

2010-01-03T23:47:00.000+06:00

Weather Clear and Cold
Temp--minus 20F (132C)
Wind--Calm

From our 9th floor apartment windows we see a lot of Siberian Domesticity and daily life. As I am shaving or getting dressed, I like to look our of our bedroom and observe life below. Sometimes looking out is a little difficult with Jack Frost's artwork on the window, but I can usually make out what's going on.

One thing that I have noticed about mothers year round is that they often take their babies out for a ride in a pram (baby buggy) during the afternoons or mornings. It is sorta like walking the dog. I presume that this is for fresh air, although with the amount of blankets and snow suites they put on these kids, it is unlikely they get much air at all. Nevertheless, these moms, or the occasional babushka, are dedicated to this practice. I have seen them out for "air" when it is -25F. That's dedication.

Another scene of domesticity was seen one Saturday as I was doing the wash. I heard some muffled thumps out in the back of our building.

Thinking that there was some building project in progress, I looked out the window and "what did I see . . .", there was a heavy metal frame embedded upright in the ground over a man had draped a carpet for beating the dirt out of it. This scene could have been occurred in any Russian city at any time during the year, but at -20F it seems a little incongruous, but there it is, with the man, presumably the husband, beating a rug under the supervision of a woman, presumably his wife, who occasionally moved closer to say something to him when his ardor for rug beating waned. Most of the time she stayed out of range in case he missed the rug.

A couple of days ago I heard some fireworks in the back and tried to look out those same windows in the "Cabo" room (for you newbies, that is our enclosed porch that gets very hot in the summer like Cabo San Lucas) and as I came into the porch from the extra bedroom where the wash was hanging, the window instantly iced up to the extent that I could not wipe it off. After using my Metro card to scrape off the ice, my breath and body heat created more ice and I never could see out of the window. I took this picture the next day and it was OK until I got close to the window and then the same thing happened.

Even in the cold, life just has to go on. If you live where it is winter 6 months of the year, the people just cannot afford to let it impact what they are doing. Garbage gets picked up, Weddings take place, the puppies get fed, the dog gets walked, shopping gets done, little girls dress up with sparklers in the hair, and people have to walk from place to place because most people don't have wheels. I watched what looked like an older (50) lady turn the corner from our street onto the side street and slip on the ice. She scrambled to her feet and just kept walking.

Speaking of walking, Russians rush. I have made a very scientific observation about Russian walking and have found that most walk at about 100 to 120 steps per minute, whereas a good hiking walk is 60-70 steps per minute. I am not sure if they are just in a hurry or if there is some other motive, but they move fast, they move hard, and they move without interest in others. It's like the one with the most energy gets the right-of-way.

I watched a woman in the store who was ahead of us at the cashier take her change, pick up her two bags, whirl around and charge off at almost a dead run without even noticing the people around her who gave way so as not to be crushed. If we are leaving the building and I hear the outside door open, I step aside of the interior door (there are three doors, the outside steel one and two interior wooden ones to keep out the cold) and avoid being trampled by whomever is coming through the entry. They don't look, they don't hesitate, and they don't apologize. Get out of the way or pay the consequences.

These are a tough people for a tough place and they don't apologize for it, although, I am often asked what I think of Siberia. Even on New Years day, as we came into our building we were met by a man coming out of the outside door in a T-shirt and shorts. He welcomed us into the building, wished us a "slovam godam" (Happy New Year) and then wanted to talk. He was obviously very drunk, but he wanted to try out his English on us and we conversed for a couple of minutes that ended in, "How do you like Siberia", to which we always answer that we love Siberia.

Every day is an adventure and every day it seems colder than the last, even though the thermometer may read the same or a little higher. It is just plain cold. Any exposed flesh is subject to frost bite and you learn to protect yourself. We are grateful to be here to serve the missionaries and the Lord in this frozen land.

What a country.
DS

The Missing Nine 1/3/10

2010-01-03T18:02:00.000+06:00

Weather--Clear and Cold
Temp--minus 20F (-32C)
Wind--Calm

The puppies have been missing for the past week. I have been looking for them and for the babushka who has been feeding them. There are no tracks through the newly fallen show and no sign of their usual traffic.

The adult black dogs have been seen, but I have not seen the mother. The males are chasing cars and barking at night in the usual fashion, but the whole thing seems to say that the family is split up if they are still alive.

As I said in a prior blog, I was never sure how I felt about nine more dogs in the neighborhood, but since they WERE there and I am a softy for babies, I have been concerned about their absence. Maybe someone has taken them in or maybe they just found a warmer place to winter than this construction sight.

Nevertheless, I wanted to memorialize the fact that they are missing and that I am concerned for them, even though I was not sure I wanted them to grow up to be a nuisance this spring. Ambivalence is not one of my favorite emotions so this whole thing is a little unsettling. More to come.

What a quandary. What a winter. What a country.
DS

Christmas #2 in Siberia 12/25/09

2010-01-03T17:44:00.000+06:00

Weather cold and clear
Temp -22F (-30C)
Wind calm

Our second Christmas in Siberia has been most unremarkable on the one hand, but very rewarding on the other. It is interesting how things that were so impressive the first year are so routine the second year.

A week or so before Christmas we had stuffed American candy, Cool aide, and stick candy into a thick warm sock, followed by its mate to plug the hole and tied with a ribbon, for each missionary and made sure they were in the various cities for Christmas day. These had to be sent in the mail pouches carried by the incoming seven missionaries who arrived on the 23rd. I even forgot to take a picture of our project so this one below from last year will have to do.

Christmas eve we had the zone over for a one-hour dinner before they all headed for English Club. It was brief, but good with tukey, mashed potatoes & gravy, corn, muffins, and salad. Sister Simmons even gave her beautiful gardenia plant a haircut to provide some greenery for the table. What a sacrifice.

Everyone enjoyed the meal and we even had time to give them their stockings from us. Most had the candy eaten before the meal was over; that's what it's for, right?

Even earlier in the month we hosted an evening of filling home made boxes (out of those US Mail flat rate boxes) destined for missionaries who lived in our mission, but were currently serving in other missions. It was organized by Yulia, our office accountant and a former missionary, because she remembered how lonesome it was serving away from home and wanted them to get something from "home".

Remember, our cities are spread out from L.A. to Chicago so getting something from "home" is a bit of a stretch. It was really something from friends who remembered you. It is remarkable how close the Young Single Adult community is in the mission, considering the distance between cities, but they know one another and certainly have a bond, making this time of year special.

After the missionaries left for English Club, we cleaned up and watched, "It's a Wonderful Life" starring Jimmy Stewart. I do pretty well until he is returned to his current life and his friends bring the money to replace the money that his uncle Billy looses. I cannot help crying during that ending scene. It is so touching when his friends come to save his business and reputation. Why can't we make pictures like this anymore? Maybe it is because there arre no more Jimmy Stewarts.

The final Christmas activity was the day at the mission home with the Trejos. We ate, played games, exchanged "white elephant" gifts, and watched the musical "Scrooge". The gifts were to be something in your apartment that you wanted to get rid of. Above you see the elders from the "Palace", a large apartment where we store all of the extra stuff we don't know what to do with. Their presents look alarmingly similar. To the right you see why. They all had microwave ovens with something inside. Here Sister Simmons finds a stuffed turkey inside her microwave. President Trejo made them take the microwaves back, but maybe we can find a home for one or two.

The mission gift was t-shirts with the Siberian Battalion logo. I proved that in spite of the 35 pounds I lost, Russian XL's are still undersized. I also proved that I can still move fast enough to set the camera timer and get in the picture myself.

Christmas is a time for the missionaries to relax and have a bit of home in the midst of the harshness of Siberia. We are grateful to be with them and share these experiences and this time of renewal and peace. God gives us these valiant spirits for the work here and it is our privilege to serve them and share these times with them.

What a time. What a country.
DS

The Annual Mission President's Dinner 12/17/09

2010-01-02T16:59:00.000+06:00

Weather--Clear, blue sky
Temp 23F -2.3C
Wind 3-5 MPH

Each year the Mission President hosts a dinner in the Mission Home for the Novosibirsk District presidency, the branch presidents, and their wives. The mission president's wife traditionally makes the dinner with some additions by senior couples. This year there were 10 Russian adults, two children, 4 senior missionaries, and President and sister Trejo.

This year sister Trejo made a wonderful meal for 50 (18 attending) and we all ate well. She did a great job and the appetizers table would have fed us all.

The value here is to bring the local leadership into closer contact with the mission leadership and create a closer bond of trust and love. As you might expect, with the language barrier, it is difficult to get really close to someone with whom you cannot talk effectively and the seating ended up pretty much divided by language preference, but we did have some exchanges and the sisters always have a bond. Here, Sasha Ozherelev (an English speaker) chats with President Nikoliachev and his wife, neither of whom speak English.

President Shadran, Novo First Branch president, had to bring his two children (no sitter) and President Gushchin is watching him play on the floor before dinner. They did very well until about 8:00PM when things began to get a little chaotic.

Here, Elder Miller is approaching the appetizers with a purposeful gait. In the background, Lena Ozherelev and the Shadrans inspect the mission library.

Prior to the eating, Elder Byers, Elder Miller and Elder Simmons team up for a half-dozen Christmas Carols as a warm-up. Sister Simmons joined Elder Byers and I in a couple of Carols as part of the "program" after dinner.

All-in-all, it was a nice evening and time well spent. Christmas for the members is sort of a mixed bag. Their Orthodox relatives celebrate Christmas on January 7th, their atheist friends celebrate only New Years, and their LDS friends celebrate the traditional American Christmas on the 25th. These good people stand at the crossroads of three very different approaches to the December holidays and often end up celebrating everything, sort of like Cindy and I eating two Thanksgiving dinners (her family & then mine) for several years until we finally insisted that the families formalize some sort of compromise. It's a challenge.

What a country
DS

Sister Cindy Conquers 12/18/09

2010-01-01T20:42:00.004+06:00

Sister Cindy is overcoming so many of her "I won't" issues that she is running out of challenges here in Novosibirsk.

She sent this email to her family recently announcing her triumph over pain, fear, distance, and inconvenience in going to the dentist to get a tooth repaired.

From: Cindy Simmons

Subject:

Date:

December 18, 2009 07:29:05 AM PST

To: R Douglas Simmons, Brian Simmons, Shannon Simmons, Scott Simmons, Trisha Youell

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. I conquered my fear and survived my visit to the Russian dentist.
A NEW EXPERIENCE !!!!!!

Love ya,
Mom
Sister Cindy Simmons
Russia Novosibirsk Mission
Office Secretary

This may not seem all that monumental to those of you in the US, but it was a HUGE mountain that she climbed and conquered.

First of all, you must understand that her greatest fear on this mission, after my slipping on the ice and becoming a quadriplegic or having to transport my dead body back to the US, was to get any kind of medical treatment in Russia. I have to admit that I was right there with her because medical treatment here is not what we have come to expect in the US. However, it sounds like you and I may get to experience that level of care soon at home. Sanitation, equipment, technique, training, and patient comfort are all many years in arrears.

Well, there comes a time when necessity overcomes all else and you just have to go for it. In this case, she had the unnerving experience of finding either her zirconium filling or the top half of her left back molar in a refrigerator storage container after she had tasted its contents. At first she thought it was a piece of bone, but discovered the hole in her mouth and knew the horrible truth. She tried to endure the pain and loss of chewing surface, but finally had to just bite the bullet, so to speak, and get it fixed.

First, she had Olga make an appointment for an examination and evaluation by the dentist she recommended, who also had done work for Sister Mickelsen. When we arrived, we found that it was a very modern-looking office setup with elevator music playing and a receptionist who did the initial welcome and registration. Here Olga is making out the initial paperwork in Russian to get her registered.

I went in with her initially to be some support, and of course to get some pictures for the blog. It was modern, clean, and very professional. There were three office-cubicle type of enclosures in this large room and each was similarly equipped. In this picture, the dentist is the one with the red hair on the left.

After they got her in the chair and she began to explain the problem and they began to ask questions, with Olga interpreting both sides of course, I could see that I was not needed and slipped out.

As I came out of the door, I noticed the pictures on the wall and realized that these were of the staff. Her dentist was the one in the lower-left. She looked to be about in her late 30's in person, but much younger in the picture.

All in all, I was impressed with the place, the staff, and the young-lady dentist and felt quite confident that Cindy would be well cared for.

After the initial examination which took about half an hour, she came out with an X-ray and a complete idea of the health of her teeth. Interesting enough, they did not charge for the examination.

Armed with that information and the X-ray, she used SKYPE to contact the former mission president, Hal Mickelsen (a dentist) and his wife who had the root canal done last year. She also SKYPED her regular dentist, Brian Hull, to find out just how serious this could be. Being satisfied that it could wait, she endured the pain until it became constant and was obviously not going away. Fortunately, Sister Mickelsen had found this dentist in Novosibirsk to be very satisfactory, so Sister Cindy had Olga make an appointment and she had the work done.

I went along for moral support for the second visit to have the root-canal, but she really didn't need me. I'm proud of her for her bravery and determination. She has even made several other appointments with this dentist to get other problems fixed. Before we get home, I'm sure that she will have had several teeth repaired and will be quite comfortable with the whole process.

What a brave soldier. What a country.
DS

Minus 33 on 12-23-09

2009-12-24T02:13:00.003+06:00

Weather--overcast
Temp--minus 33 F (-36 C)
Wind--calm

Some interesting things begin to happen at -33.

First, it is just plain very cold. Anything metal is off-limits. Do not touch metal poles, doors, railings, etc. that have been out in the open for more than a few hours. Definately do not touch your tongue to a flagpole.

Second, people change their habits out in the open. Most will wear a scarf across the face because breathing air this cold can be damaging to your lungs. It creates a condition similiar to emphysema from damaged tissue that is not repaired. They look like a gang of bandits briskly moving down the snow-encrusted sidewalks and roads.

Wearing a scarf across your face does have some interesting side effects other than your being mistaken for a robber. Under normal circumstances your breath would go right through the scarf and leave nothing. At -33, the moisture in your breath freezes on the outside of the scarf and it soon smells like whatever you had for breakfast. By the time you get home at the end of the day, your scarf needs a good cleaning and you put a package of mints in your pocket for tomorrow.

Those who do not wish to pollute a good scarf will stand or walk with a hand over the face. This provides the same protection without the stained scarf. Many of the 20-something generation are very style conscious and will choose this method to preserve the wardrobe.

Windows display some peculiar behaviors as well. At higher temperatures, any moisture in the house, car, or office may fog the windows, but will soon disappear in this very dry climate, the ambient humidity being in the low 20's. At -33, any moisture in the room seeks out a cold window and immediately becomes ice, requiring a credit card or other scrapping device to remove it. Even the inside of double-pane windows will become ice machines. Also, the rubber gaskets around the more modern vinyl window frames become rigid and will not seal properly at this temperature, letting in rather frosty air, even in the absence of wind.

Other interesting things include diesel and gasoline that become thick and sluggish, car exhaust that hangs close to the ground and makes artificial fog on busy streets, spit that freezes in mid air (if it is not too thick), fingers that burn like fire after only a minute or two exposure, everything flexible becomes ridgid and brittle, the puppies stop cavorting in the construction yard across the street, you wear your coat inside the supermarket, smoker are more nervous with fewer cigarette breaks at work, "cold cash" takes on new meaning at an ATM on the street, and the METRO becomes a haven for sensible people.

Cold seeks heat like a bee seeks nectar or a frog seeks water. It will press into every crevice and crack, unaided by wind. It is like the night monsters trying to find a way into your room. Cold is relentless and brutal. It will suck the heat out of your ears, your nose, your eyes, your nostrils, fingers, even your very breath. It is always grasping, clawing to get at you and when it does, danger lurks. Frostbite is a real danger here at these temperatures and should not be treated casually. Cold is a killer that Siberians dance with all winter, needing to stay in contact, but skillfully twirling away into some warm spot to break its icey embrace for a moment and then resuming the dance as they move on.

Yep, -33 is downright cold as Elder Brock Peterson shows here, but it probably won't be the record low for the year. It is only a matter of time when -40 will hang on for weeks in February. Stay tuned, I have run out of excuses to leave the mission in February, the coldest month of the year. Here Elder Peterson shows the result of breath moisture freezing on your hood, hat, and mask at -35 in Snigeri, near Novo.

What a frozen country .
DS

A "Cultural Event"? 12/20/09

2009-12-19T20:30:00.003+06:00

Weather -- snowing steadily for the past 4 hours
Temp -8 F
Wind - Calm

Last Saturday night our zone went to the hockey game featuring a preliminary-league championship match between the Novosibirsk team and another city team (I never found out what city). This was for a place in the semi-finals. We traveled by taxi with Sasha and Lena Ozherelev to save Sister Simmons ears from the cold. (Oh, and the fact that she didn't want to walk about 1 1/2 miles from the end of the Metro.)

Sasha warned us about rowdy people and big crowds, but I have seen more drunks and rowdy people at the Pig Bowl in Sacramento, a football game between the Sacramento Police and Sheriff departments, than at this game. It actually was very normal, sorta like an NBA game on ice. There was only one injury, caused by a hard "check" into the boards and a short shoving match that was quickly broken up by the referees.

The game started like your standard NBA or NFL game with the National Anthem. Just like shouting "Play Ball", they shouted something at the end and the game was on. We (Sister Cindy and I) actually enjoyed the game although the only part I really understood was when a goal was made and everyone stood up and cheered. Actually, I guess I didn't understand that either because I missed a goal scored by the other team. After we (now that I'm a fan it's we) scored a second goal I looked at the scoreboard above the dancing girls (whom I didn't actually look at of course), saw the score was 2 to 1, and asked when the other team had scored. Sasha said that no one supports the other team so it went unnoticed.

To me it was like Tennessee Earnie Ford's attempt to describe his first football game (you had to have been there). They skated up and down the ice, batting the puck around, knocking one another down occasionally, and generally wearing themselves out for several minutes and then the referee would blow his whistle, everyone stopped what they were doing and they started the game again at one of the little circles painted on the ice.

One time, something wrong happened, everyone had to leave the ice, and one of our guys (notice the possessive) got to shoot at the goal all alone without any opposition. I guess that's like a free throw in basketball except the hoop doesn't have a goalie. Anyway, he missed and the crowd whistled. I'd have thought they would be upset, but they all whistled and cheered him. Boy, that was confusing to me!

The stadium was full of uniformed security and military personnel, presumably to keep order. I was surprised to see soldiers stationed around the railings looking appropriately stern and professional, although most of them were under twenty and weighed less than 150 lbs. I have never seen so many skinny soldiers in my life. Together with the 50 or so police, they kept the lid on things quite well.

We saw a lot of families at the game and many with young children. One set of grandparents in front of us had a girl about 7 and a boy about 9 with them. The grandmother was always fixing the hair decorations of the granddaughter and the grampa was frequently headed to the snack bar for some more food. I tried to get a good picture of their family, but I could never catch the kids still enough to get them in focus.

They sold the usual "spirit" stuff for our team in the snack bar area like the usual banners, noise-makers, hats, number 1 fingers, viking helmets (I guess that's our mascot) and neck scarves (very practical) that were waved like banners when we did something good.

All-in-all, I thought it was a great "cultural event" and a lot more interesting than Swan Lake for the 5th time. I would like to see that Folkloric show we saw last year. The singing, dancing, singing, dancing, and singing were really terrific and very Russian. I hope to be spared another episode of Swan Lake for the next four months.

What a country.
DS

PS--We won 2-1.

"SHOW-TIME", The Novosibirsk District Holiday Concert & Open House 12/1/09

2009-12-13T00:02:00.001+06:00

Weather -- Snowing, Overcast
Temp -- -14 F (-26 C)
Wind -- 15-18 mph, gusts to 25mph

We have been preparing for the Holiday Concert and Open House for about 3 months, but the real push has been only the past several weeks. I decided that since I was responsible for the whole idea that I had better make sure it was a success as far as I could make sure of anything here. I made the plans, Sister Cindy evaluated and suggested, we met with the district president and representatives from each branch to give them their assingments, followed-up, checked-up, and was there to manage it wall-to-wall. If I have to say so here myself, it was a big (not roaring) sucess and we both feel satisfied that it was the best it could have been. Here is our accompanist Anya (next to me) and a choir member Yulia.

The concert part included four choir numbers, a children's chorus, a missionary trio, a 10 minute skit done in poetry (written by Brat Konanov of 2nd Branch), a missionary choir, and The Nativity (Luke II) video. Each act was preceded by Elder Wilson reading verses from Luke and Matthew.

The choir opened the show, after the introduction by President Nikoliachev and prayer by the District Relief Society President, by singing Joy To The World and Oh Little Town of Bethlehem. The children's chorus, led by Lena Ozherelev, sang Mary's Lullaby (very cute). The missionary trio of Elder Rainsdon, Elder Hinkson, and Elder Byers sang Away in a Manger, the choir sang Night of Silence / Silent Night and What Child is This. After the skit the missionaries all sang O Holy Night.

By 6:50 we had about 12 people in the audience and I was a little concerned. We had split 200 invitations among the 4 branches and given 50 to each companionship in town and announced it for two Sundays. I had stopped rehearsing the choir and was doing last minute things, but by 7:05 every one of the 100 chairs were filled and people were standing. They must have all come on the same Metro train. The final count was 125 with about 25 or so non-members and investigators.

Before the concert, the Sunday School room was set up for the reception and refreshments supplied by the 4th Branch Relief Society. In one corner was the Family Enrichment / Strengthening Families display, in the other corner was the missionary table with English Club, Book of Mormon, and Questions about the Church displays. In the center of the opposite wall was Sister Gushchina's Family History center open for people to see. Each display was very popular with the visitors. We also had displays in the auxiliary meeting rooms, Relief Society, Primary, and Young Women. They were all well done and attractive.

The concert ended about 8:00 and people seemed at least satisfied with it, some quite excited in fact. I got a couple of vigorous handshakes and "большая работаc" "bolshoya rabotas" (great works), a few "Молодцыc""molodyets" (well dones), and a bunch of "Спасибоc" "spacibas" (thank yous). Singers and performers were congradulating one another and generally most felt good about the evening. President and Sister Trejo thanked me and I think they were pleased as well.

For me the Open House was as much or more of a success. People traveled the rooms and saw the displays. Each was unique and entertaining. The Relief Society had out their quilts and books, the Primary had an on-going demonstration of things they do in primary with songs and games, the Young Women had a power-point presentation and clips from past youth conferences, punctuated with popcorn and balloons. The missionary and FEP corners were thick with visitors and the Family History Center was always active.

Of the investigators who came, we saw many of the ones who have come to our home over the past month. Anna, Dema and Olga, Alexe, Gnade were among them and we heard tonight that Anna and Dema have set baptism dates. We hope that others will materialize. We also met the Drachyov's relatives who are not members as well as friends of the investigators who came.

The cultural lesson for me was the refreshment table. In the US, my experience is that people will go to the refreshment table, take something and move away to another location. Last night was an eye opener. The refreshments consisted of an abundance of store-bought confections and "juice". I put quotes around the juice because here, unless you buy "100% sok" it is 20-40% juice and the rest sugar and water. I have never been to an event where they served punch as we know it, but most juices are its equivelent.

Once it was known that the two tables in the center of the room were for the refreshments, people began staking out a position at the table. As the food and juice began to arrive, it was "Katie bar the door" and "Every man for himself". It was like the Walmart bargain table the day after Thanksgiving; arms, hands, hips, elbows, everything was a lever, I saw one small child duck down, squeeze between two portly sisters, and pop up next to the table where he grabbed several cookies and, reversing his path before getting crushed, emerged with his trophies. It was amazing.

The post-concert Open House was a great success (bordering on roaring) and people stayed on until about 9:10 when it seemed that the same Metro train was about to leave and people began rushing for the coat room. It was a mass dressing of children and I don't know how they managed to get the right clothes on the right kids; gloves, hats, boots, scarves, coats, pants, all in heaps with mothers trying to grab the kid with one hand and pulling on the article with the other.

As sister Simmons and I stood in the hall, after being ushered out of the reception room by the cleaning crew who wanted to join the exodus, we thanked, hugged, and generally bid the last of them farewell. It was a great evening and we hope it results in at least good will if not new members.

Our Friend Bert Has Gone Home 12/5/09

2009-12-05T15:39:00.005+06:00

Weather -- still overcast
Temp -- 20 F (heading to 12 F by tomorrow)
Wind -- calm

Our friend Bert Coop died Friday, December 4, 2009 at 2:40 pm in his home after several years battling the cancer that finally took his life. We have known Bert and Bonnie Coop for over 30 years, we grew-up our kids together, were in the same ward as young parents, separated with the splitting of the ward, then back again recently with a realignment of the boundaries.

When we left for our mission, Bert said that he probably would not be here when we returned. We hoped that was an over-statement, but it has turned out to be quite accurate. The death of a friend changes the landscape dramatically and Bert's death will surely do that for us. We will continue to love and include Bonnie and will do all we can to remind her of our love and friendship. Sister Cindy said that we should call them on SKYPE a couple of days ago and we talked to Bonnie and then to Bert for a minute or two; good choice by Sister Cindy.

Bert was, no, is, a complex fellow like most of us. He brought his family to Sacramento to work as a pediatrician at Kaiser and worked there until taking an early retirement a few years ago, showing himself to be a combination of a compassionate, caring doctor; a bit of a shy person with strangers; and an outgoing, boisterous friend. He wasn't above stretching a story about himself, but would be serious and interested if you wanted to talk of important things. He was a lover of the arts, especially painting, and loved to perform with his good tenor voice. We asked him to paint something for us like one of our favorite pictures he had in his home. We asked him to paint one for us and he did, but we liked the original better. He liked the new one so he agreed to give us the original one and kept the new one for himself. We insisted on buying the painting and, after refusing the payment he reluctantly accepted the money, saying that it wasn't that good. We love it and it now hangs above our bed.

We have been on several trips with Bert and Bonnie, one of them around the end of South America. We all enjoyed the karaoke nights and Bert was really in his element. We sang a duet of the Everly Brothers "Dream", he sang solos, and with the group of guys, The HOTS, sang"The Lion Sleeps Tonight". That was a fun time.

In his later years he took up painting and got very good at it. He always said the one you liked was not very good, but I know he was pleased at the compliment. He also joined several choirs so that he could enjoy making music with others. I sang with him several times in a group for something at church and he sang in the ward choir while I conducted. I asked him to be the president of the choir and I think he enjoyed that. He also joined the American River Junior College A Capella choir just for the love of singing. This was during his chemotherapy time and he often had to wear a ball cap to cover his thinning hair. He loved to sing and took every opportunity to perform.

Being away from home has its own challenges, and being away when your friends are hurting makes it all the more difficult. We know that we are in the right place doing what God has both assigned to us to do and allowed us to do, but our hearts yearn to be there with Bonnie at this difficult time. I guess there will be time enough for that when we return and all of the others have helped her through the first months.

What a time. What a country
DS

The Garbage Man 12/3/09

2009-12-05T11:28:00.000+06:00

Weather -- Heavy clouds; blowing snow
Temp -- 24 F (12 C)
Wind -- Of course, Strong from the west about 30 mph

First, Thanks to those who commented on the last few postings. Carol, I love Sister Gneiting and I know you well enough to appreciate your comments. Your daughter talks about you very positively and thinks you are a great mom. Thanks for the comments.

Second, Shannon, I missed you on the comments, but I'm sure the new job is taking a toll on your computer time. Thanks for taking the time to comment. I love you.

Now, about the garbage man. As a child, I was always impressed by the garbage man with his big truck and his big container that he carried into our back yard to dump our trash cans into. He could carry two trashcans full of garbage in one big container and carry it out to the truck. He must have been the strongest man in the world.

And the truck; that was amazing. It had this big place on the back where he's dump his big container and then he'd pull a handle and the motor would roar and the big lid would come down and crush the garbage into the belly of the truck, leaving the hopper free to receive another big load of trash. What a thrill. I used to imagine what it would be like to be pushed by that big lid into the belly of that great monster truck like Jonah in the whale.

What was even more impressive was that he could ride on the back of the truck, standing on a little platform and holding on to a handle. That was very cool to a child who wasn't even allowed to stick his head out of the car window and feel the wind, let alone ride on the running board. Oh yes, most of you have no idea what a running board is. Google it.

Well, we used to have a similar system for our building, like most of these buildings, and it involved a big truck that came at 2:00 AM every night. But instead of a big man with a big barrel, with a big noisy truck, the truck had arms that came out and picked up the 4' x 4' x 5' tall square metal containers, lifted them up, and dumped them into the center of the truck's top. Then the motor would race as the packer ram would cram the trash into the belly of the truck just like in my childhood. Sometimes we would be late to bed and I got to see the whole operation from our 9th floor bedroom window at the stroke of 2 am.

Someone who works in some government office has devised, or at least has bought, a new, much more efficient and improved, process that has done away with the 2 am guy driving alone through the streets of Novosibirsk picking up these old, somewhat beat-up trashcans.

Now and we have a daytime pickup that comes sometime in the morning, usually before 10 am. I call it the two-guy clam-shell process and it has revolutionized the trash pickup process.

First, instead of that old packer truck we have an old flat-bed truck with a crane arm. This planner guy has single-handedly doubled the garbage dumpster worker rolls with a two man operation. Gone are the days of lonely garbage truck drivers wending their way among the housing projects all alone. Now each truck has two operators with distinctively different jobs and probably a class distinction.

I suspect that the truck-guy who drives and operates the crane arm is on a higher level than the packer guy who moves the chains from the center of the container to the corners to open the clam-shell bin and dump the trash. He also gets to jump up and down on the trash to pack it down, sorta like the old truck but much quieter.

It is kinda odd that this new system requires the packer to put appliance boxes along the walls of the truck to get more in before they go to dump it. I wonder if he gets appliance boxes from the trash each day or whether he saves them from day to day.

After the packer sets his boxes and jumps on the trash, he climbes down off the truck and hooks the chains to the rings located in the center of the container. At the packer's signal, the truck guy lifts the container into the truck bed. Then the packer climbs back onto the truck and relocates the hooks to the four corners of the box. At another signal, the truck guy raises the crane and the edges of the box are lifted up, opening the clam-shell and dumping the trash into the truck. This is so efficient that it is unlikely that one guy though of this process. It must have been a committee.

After the "dump" is complete, the truck guy swings the container back onto the container's pad. The packer jumps down onto the pad and relocates the chains to the center rings and at yet another signal to the truck guy the container is closed and set squarely on the pad. This is the most critical move because a crooked container could cause all sorts of mayhem, but I think their current philosophy is any landing you can walk away from is a good landing.

Well, that's it about the garbage man (men) and their new procedure. I can't help thinking about a movie about a Russian nuclear submarine that sank in the Baltic some years ago, I think the movie was named "The Widow Maker". The part I am remembering is that the engineer who had to shut down the reactor found that instead of having a radiation suit in the ship's supplies they had a chemical contamination suit because the supply department didn't have a radiation suit in stock to give them.

This garbage process exposes the packer to what ever is in the trash all day long (needles, used toilet tissue, rotten food, etc.) and then he brings it home to his family. I cannot believe no one thought about the contamination risk to someone handling and jumping on the trash all day. I guess it was just not considered significant; another part of life here.

What a country
DS

To Jason, Carol, and you other Parents 12/5/09

2009-12-05T10:24:00.002+06:00

Weather -- Heavy overcast
Temp -- 26 F
Wind -- 8-10 mph

Welcome aboard Jason. Thanks for your comment. If you want to know more about the living conditions and experiences in our first few months here, I invite you to go back to some of the early posts. It was all more of a mystery then than it is now and I posted a lot about the daily routine and new experiences.

We are looking forward to all of our new missionaries and now I will have a connection with Elder Eborn. Sister Gneiting's mom, Carol, and many others follow the blog for the same reason, to get a look at what your missionary is experiencing, enduring, enjoying.

We love these missionaries and you as parents may be interested to know my observation about them. As a parent, I was always concerned how my "not too focused" child was going to do, basically on his/her own, out in the mission. The three we sent out all came back older in many ways, more focused, and really nice people.

My observation is that their chronological self and their spiritual self show themselves in different circumstances and the spiritual self is a great testimony as to how ancient and well prepared these spirits really are. In social situations with other missionaries, they are 19-20 yearolds without a doubt. In our city, the elders love to play Risk and do so at every opportunity. The sisters seem to gravitate to Jenga, an interesting, suspenseful game of stacking logs on a tower. In their missionary work, in their teaching, in their mentoring of new members, in their district and zone meetings they are incredibly mature, sensitive, and discerning.

Your children are the best that their ancient spirits can manage with their young minds and I am continually impressed and touched by their ability to take on that maturity in spiritual matters. We still have to inspect their apartments and admonish them to keep things clean, report damage, pick up their socks, and all of the same things you harass them about at home, but in their missionary work they are all the best anyone could hope for in a missionary of any age.

We have senior couples in each city except two and they get regular visits. These senior couples are the guardians of what you have taught them at home, a little home cooking, and an emotional support when needed.

Your children, and they are definitely not children out here in Siberia, are well cared for, supervised, and supported by a loving president and his wife, the Trejos, by the various senior couples, and by the angels God has assigned to watch over them in Siberia.

Be strong. They are.

What a country.
DS

Feeding the Nine 12/1/09

2009-12-03T18:58:00.001+06:00

Weather -- Heavy overcast
Temp -- -12 F
Wind -- Calm

This morning I caught some pictures of the "Puppy Lady" feeding the 9 puppies that live in the construction across the street. She comes most mornings around 8-9:00 with something for them. They now come running out of the building when she comes and by the time I got my camera out, all I can see is a couple of them around her feet. You can just barely see them at her feet while the mom looks on from inside the fence.

Yesterday morning I saw 6 of them playing out in front of the gate near the driveway that separates this building from the industrial area next door. They were wrestling, jumping, chasing eachother in anticipation of the "Puppy Lady's" arrival, but she never came that day.

Today, after the feeding, the "Puppy Lady" started down the street and two of the puppies followed her. She turned around and scolded them and with a "air-backhand" sent them scurrying back inside the fence.

I missed taking a picture of the actual orders to the puppies, but you can see her turned around toward them as the others inside begin to retreat into the building.

Here they are moving toward the gate again as she turned around and continued down the street.

On the way back they stopped, turned around to look at her and she again motioned for them to go home. They both continued back to the fence and into the safety of the building and their siblings.

Children are so easily trained if we are firm, but patient because they want to please and are looking for reinforcement. These puppies did as they were told and went home to await the advent of the "Puppy Lady" again tomorrow. God bless the babka.

What a country.
DS

Feeling Alone 12/03/09

2009-12-03T14:52:00.000+06:00

Weather--Overcast, occasional snow
Temp -- minus 6F
Wind 3-5 mph

I guess my friends have gotten bored with my blogs. I haven't gotten one comment on the last three posts and I check it daily to see if anyone read them.

Well, I guess maybe I have run out of interesting things to comment on around Novosibirsk. After 18 months, most things are pretty SOP ordinary by now. I can't help feeling a little lonely though with no exchange with my readers, but I understand that people are just busy with their lives and time is hard to find. Hey, are you still out there?

I have not sent many emails out because I used the blog to communicate with everyone and it is very different from an email. People feel some obligation to respond to an email, but a blog just sits there until someone comes to it and comments. I suppose that some people read and don't feel a need, or don't know how to comment. I guess I'll just have to start sending email broadcasts and see who rises to the bait. Although, I can't complain about over 800,000 hits on the blog over the last year and a half, I have a secret wish to hit 1,000,000 before next April 31. We'll see.

Paka' (familiar goodbye)

What a country
DS

Makhail's Baptism Letters 11/28/09

2009-11-29T02:03:00.005+06:00

Weather--Snow

Temp 29 F

Wind calm

Our granddaughter Makhail just turned 8 and will be baptized next week. Her mom, our daughter Trisha, asked us to write something about our feelings and testimony about baptism so I wrote this little story to illustrate what I think baptism is and why it is important.

Dear Makhail,
I am so pleased that you are going to be baptized soon. It is such an important thing for you to do. You know, I think of baptism as the gate to a big castle where the king lives and where we each want to live with the king forever. When we are baptized we go through the big gate because this is the only way into the castle and his kingdom. By doing this we become part of the king’s people where we can live free from the bad things that we have done and we can change each day to become better and better by repenting of the bad things and doing more good things.

With your baptism you become a part of the kingdom of God and you can be happy all of your life by doing all the good that you can do. The king also has a special assistant who will help you to do the right things. After the elders of the kingdom give him to you, he will be with you always to tell you the truth, to help you feel better when you are sad, and to help you to be the best you can be.

Grandma and I are part of that kingdom too and so are your mom, dad, sister and most of the good people you know. I know that being part of that kingdom is very important and I know that God wants the best for all the people and welcomes them into his castle, but they must come in through the gate. We are proud of you and love you very much.
Love
Grampa Doug

Grandma Cindy wrote the following

Makhail
December 5, 2009

I’m so happy that you have chosen to be baptized and strengthen your place on the Lord’s team. Baptism is a very special ordinance that opens the doorway to eternal life with your Heavenly Father. He loves you so much and wants you to come back and live with Him again someday when you have finished your work here on the earth. Through your baptism and confirmation, you will be ready to be a new member of the Lord’s church. What a blessing! You have learned about our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation and about His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, at home from your family, and at church from your primary lessons and leaders. You have been a good student and Heavenly Father and Jesus are so pleased with your choice to join their church and continue to be such a good example.

There is another very important member of the Godhead that is, also, very happy with your decision. It’s the Holy Ghost. You won’t be able to see Him, but you will feel His presence and influence around you. His special job is to ALWAYS tell you the TRUTH. Most of the time you will just feel what’s right and what’s wrong. You will know what you should do in your life if you pray and ask for guidance and direction. No matter what, you will always know the truth if you are righteous and listen to the Holy Ghost. He will always lead you correctly. He is a very special friend that you can always count on.

I want you to know that I have a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and I know that these things are true. Heavenly Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost know you and love you. And so do I.

Love from Novosibirsk,
Grandma Simmons/Gram/Grammy/Me/Grandma Cindy

Denise Matsuev Concert with Olga 11/27/09

2009-11-28T16:08:00.005+06:00

Weather--snow most of the day
Temp--warm, 24 F (+1.1 C)
Wind15-30 mph

We have often asked Olga (in our office) to find some musical or cultural things that we can go to with her, Several weeks ago she learned of a one-night only concert in the big theater on Krasni Prospect. I looked up some back ground on him and this is what I found.

Matsuev was born in Irkutsk, Russian Federation, into a family of musicians. His mother was a piano teacher, and his father was a well-known pianist and composer in Irkutsk Oblast. When Matsuev was 3 years old, he heard a melody on television and went to the piano and reproduced the melody precisely with one finger. His father was his first music teacher. By the age of 15, Matsuev studied in a music school in Irkutsk. He also loved to play hockey and football as a child, and he broke his arm twice.

Winning the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1998 at an age of 23 was the turning point in his career. Matsuev embarked on a concertising career touring the main concert venues of the world and played with conductors such as Evgeny Svetlanov, Vladimir Spivakov, and Claudio Abbado.

He is also the organizer of two festivals in Russia. The first one is "Stars on Baikal", his musical gift to his homeland and Baikal, and the other one is Crescendo Festival in Russia|Crescendo, which was first held in Moscow in 2005 and then in Saint Petersburg in 2006.

Olga went with us last night to the concert. As far as I could tell, every seat was filled and I was surprised to see many people, mostly women, who came alone. Two ladies sitting next to me and two sitting next to Olga were alone. It is clear that Russian women do not need a man, or any companion, to go to a concert.

The Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra looked to be about 100 musicians.

NOVOSIBIRSK ACADEMIC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The Novosibirsk Academic Symphony Orchestra has been well-known outside Siberia for a very long time. It has become a cultural asset of not only the city of Novosibirsk and the Siberian region but of the whole of Russia. According to the opinion of some foreign and Russian critics, musicians and audiences, the orchestra can be classed with the orchestras of Moscow and St Petersburg. Established in 1956 and led by Arnold Kats (1924-2007), the People’s Artist of the USSR, and laureate of the National Award of Russia, the orchestra has given concerts in various Russian cities and towns.

The concert began with the orchestra playing Beethoven's "Coriolan" Overture Op.62 in stunning charity and technique. I have embedded it here, as conducted by Carlos Kleiber.

Matsuev then came on stage and played with the orchestra a piano concerto by Prokofie that was full of discords and odd harmonies that put me to sleep. I just could not get into it. However, after the intermission and the orchestra playing Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet overture he played another piano concerto, that I cannot read in the program, that absolutely knocked me out of my seat. He played runs and chords so fast that I actually could not follow them with my eyes. His technique and lyrical changes of tone and rhythm were absolutely brilliant. I wish that I could embed his performance here, but all I could find were the orchestra pieces.

He did two encores and the audience was still standing in applause when he finally left the stage for the last time. It was incredible. Thank you Olga for that special night.

What a night. What a country

DS

9 More Dogs 11/25/09

2009-11-28T15:07:00.002+06:00

Weather -- Snow, sun, total overcast, sun, overcast
Temp 12 F (-11 C)
Wind Calm

About 2 weeks ago we noticed a blond dog that was obviously nursing puppies. She was heavy in the utter and was seen only occasionally during the morning. From the vantage of our 9th floor apartment window I noticed her going into the building across the street that has been under construction since before the 18 months that we have been here.

About a week ago I saw her litter, all 9 of them. A local babushka was inside the construction site in front of the door the mother (right above) normally used and in front of her were these 9 puppies; 7 black and two gray. That was a reminder of the genetics chart I saw in school that predicted how many black mice and how many white ones would result from a white and black mouse union.

I have watched the more frequent venturing out of those puppies as the babushka started feeding them at the gate rather than going inside the construction site. Each morning, about 8:00, the nine come out of the building and start looking around for the babka who they expect will show up. Most mornings she does, but one morning she didn't. The pups stood around on their side of the gate and waited a long time. Finally, they wandered off by ones and twos until they'd all gone back inside. The next day she showed up again and as soon as she got to the gate, all nine came running out to meet her. I don't know if she called them or they were watching from the shadows inside the building they call home.

I have thought a lot about those puppies and recalled a story about the bears in some park (don't remember the location) that starved to death, standing on the park roads during the winter, waiting for the tourists to feed them. They had forgotten to store up for the winter because food was so easily obtained. With the tourists gone and without their foraging skills, they died.

How do 9 puppies reach maturity in the winter? When they are weaned, how do they survive without the babka bringing table scraps to them? What is the humane thing in this case? Do I buy dog food and take my turn feeding them? Do I wait to see the little black bodies lying in the snow one by one? Can the mother scavenge enough for herself and the nine all winter? Will they learn to find food for themselves, and if some of them, or all of them, survive the winter, will I enjoy 15 homeless dogs (this nine and the other 6, two of which made them) roaming my neighborhood? Where is the humanity? Where is the compassion for these puppies? What is the right course?

We all love kittens, and puppies, and babies of almost all animals. Is it their innocence? It it their cute features and softness? Is it a reminder of life, and renewing, and creation? I'm not sure, but I do know that puppies grow up to be dogs and wild dogs, or any untrained dog, are at least a nuisance and in many cases a threat to humans.

I would have paid someone to get rid of the 24 dogs in the neighborhood last fall and winter. Their barking, howling, and pack activity were irritating and at times threatening and I would be rid of them if I could, and apparently someone DID get rid of them because we were down to these five by mid summer. Walking by the that pack of 24 dogs lying on the Neighborhood Administration office lawn was reminiscent of the main characters in the Alfred Hitchcock movie, "The Birds" walking past the thousands of birds on the telephone wires and standing on the ground as they tried to get to the safety of their home before the birds attacked again.

Well, anyway, the puppies are cute and their behaviors are interesting and fun to watch, but I can't help being glad that I will not be listening to them this summer.

What a country
DS

Thankful 11/23/09

2009-11-24T00:12:00.004+06:00

Weather -- heavy overcast after yesterday's all-day snow
Temp 20 F
Wind 3-5 mph

At this time of year, thoughtful Americans reflect on what things they are thankful for and generally about life and the meaning of things. I am no exception.

First, I am grateful to be allowed to serve God in Siberia. I never thought about Siberia as a place to be or to be grateful to be there; but I am. Mostly I am just grateful to be allowed to serve Heavenly Father anywhere. I have felt that way in each of the callings I have had from Scoutmaster to Bishop and back. Serving God is putting Him and your brothers and sisters ahead of yourself and as King Benjamin said, "When you are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God."

Who else would I want to serve? If I focus on serving myself, it ends there. When you serve God it is a message of your love for Him, it benefits others, and God blesses you for your service. Now that's getting good mileage out of what you do. Besides, I cannot pay Heavenly Father back for all that He has given me, both in my life here and before I came to the earth. No matter what I do to serve Him, I am always n His debt, but at least I can try to repay Him in my small way.

Second, I am grateful to be here with Sister Cindy. She is a great missionary; more than I imagined she would be. She has always been into "service" and she is the mother of the world, but her missionary service here goes beyond that. She truly wants the investigators who come to our home to feel the influence of the Light of Christ in our home and to have a witness that the Gospel is true, even though they know so little about it.

Third, I am grateful for my family. Each of them fills a place in my heart that would be empty if not for them. Each is unique, each is working out their own story, each is struggling with the same issues I struggled with (and sometimes still do), and each of them is precious to me. I love to hear about their victories and even their defeats because they are alive and fighting for their own place in history. God must feel much the same way about his children; enjoying their victories and mourning their defeats.

Fourth, I am grateful for the people I have met here; the missionaries, the members, the neighbors, the strangers on the street. I have reflected a lot this past month on how I was taught to be afraid of the "mean, atheistic, aggressive Russians" who want to take over the world. Now I see the ones I know as very much like myself; just wanting to be left alone to enjoy what ever gives them pleasure and to be free from fear. Governments and extremists of all stripes will make policies and take actions that make enemies and we must always be ready to defend ourselves, our friends, and our liberties, but the common people that I meet aren't interested in taking what I have and just want to get along.

Finally, I am grateful for my country. With all of its problems, with all of its conflicts within and without, I will be grateful to go home to the liberties and justice I have come to more fully appreciate. In spite of its flaws, people from all over the world are doing unspeakable things, suffering untold hardships and dangers, and paying an enormous price to get into the US of A. It is still the best place on earth to live. I only hope that the right-minded of us can find the energy and courage to reinstate moral values into ourselves and our government leaders or find some others who have them and throw the rascals out. When we as a people give up our duty to control our government in exchange for free bread, we will go the way of Rome and every other great world power.We cannot permit this.

I am looking forward to coming home to join in that struggle to take back my country, starting with my community and my state. Patriotism and service are not dead in America. They are just taking a nap. Well, Satan and his henchmen will soon wake up one morning in April and say, "Oh damn. They're back".

What a country
DS

Goodbye Serge 11/8/09

2009-11-22T23:20:00.002+06:00

Weather -2 F
Clear and cold
Wind 7-10 mph

Serge was the first baptism we attended after coming to Novosibirsk in June of 2008. He is a friend of Mesha Nikoliachev, son of Pyotr Nikoliachev, our office travel clerk and the president of the Novosibirsk District.

From the beginning, Serge was someone special. He is a tender spirit with a great capacity to believe. He accepted the Gospel without reservation and has immersed himself in the culture of the Church here and has risen to leadership in the Young Adults and the Second Branch presidency as a counselor to President Gushchin.

Serge was liable for military service and this was a great challenge for him. In Russia, all young men from 18 to 29 must serve one year in the military.Many young men pay for documents that would exempt them from service and Serge was offered such a document in order to continue working for his current employer and later to serve a mission for the Church. He told us that he thought it was impossible for him to tell others to repent and know that he had lied to get there.

What a sense of integrity. This is one of the most honest, sincere, genuine people I have ever met. I am sure that he was that way before he was baptized, but his life since then has been an example to everyone as to who we should all be. He is someone very special and some day he will be an amazing missionary, branch president and more. I am blessed to have known him and only wish that I could be here when he returns to enter into the missionary service. God's speed Serge, and may God bless you.

What a fine young man. What a country
DS

Don't Even Think About It 11/6/09

2009-11-07T01:03:00.008+06:00

Weather
Clear and sunny
Temp -7F
Wind 7-10 mph

With more road behind us than is before us, I have made a decision not to think about it. That's right, I will not think about it for one second. Actually, I think that I did think about it for a second, and then I caught myself and immediately stopped thinking about it. I have so not thought about it that I have forgotten what it was I was not going to think about.

What was that? I had it a minute ago, but I lost it. That's maddening. You walk into a room to do something and suddenly you have not only forgotten what you were going to do, but you wonder why you are here in the first place. What was it? Oh . . . darn I almost had it. It was something about ripe tomatoes, Basel, pea pods, and green beans. What did dirt have to do with it? Dirt . . . ripe tomatoes . . . fresh Basel . . . grass . . . lots of green grass . . . and water . . . the sound of splashing water . . . a cool shady pool of water . . . the sound of splashing water as I did something with a ripe tomato . . . a salt shaker . . . what's that got to do with it? Water? Tomato? Salt shaker? Basel, peas, green beans, berries, peaches, lemons, Oh!

I remember now. It's home. It is sitting on my deck, eating a ripe tomato from my garden, lightly salted, with a few Basel leaves that I just plucked off a plant, some mayo, yeah, and . . . oh darn . . . it's home . . . and I had decided to not think of home during this whole Siberian winter. Well, I guess I will just have to start again; not thinking of it. It? What was it? Oh darn, I lost it again.

What a memory (or lack there of). What a country.
DS

Ode to Margaret 11/5/09

2009-11-05T19:32:00.011+06:00

Margaret Richins, the mother of our close friend, Belva Wilberg, right, died Wednesday in her Sisters Oregon home at the age of 95. We had spoken to Belva and Carl a week ago, just before we left on our visa-renewal trip Saturday. Belva was hopeful that she would get to see her mom in July when she and Carl would return from their mission to Denmark.

What do you do? Do you stay home because your grand daughter will be getting baptized, or your husband's gallbladder keeps acting up, or your unmarried daughter and her boyfriend seem close to setting a date, or because your 94, soon to be 95, year old mother is getting more frail each month?

I can't answer for others, but for us, no, we don't stay home and neither did Belva. There seems to always be something that will delay our doing what we ought to do doesn't there. Well, that's what priorities are for and I can't set them for anyone else, but the phrase, "If you love them, leave them." Rings in my ears.

Yes, we are missing our granddaughters' birthdays and baptisms, and our daughter's move to Washington D.C., and our son's daily challenge with stupid people, our son's new baby, and our daughter's struggle to nurse a surgery-patient husband, a sick daughter, and mentor a newly teenage older daughter, all while keeping up with us. Yep, we are missing all of that and more, but we are where we should be serving God and the people of our mission. Belva and Carl are showing exceptional courage by serving under the critical eye and vocally critical comments of her siblings. YOU GO GIRL!

The following is an email that Belva sent to us which she has allowed me to publish here. She has demonstrated extraordinary courage in doing the right thing in the face of ignorant critics who would have her in Sisters, holding her mother's hand for the last year. There is no sign that Margaret wanted that and there is no indication that it would have helped her live a day longer. Surrounded by a Ward Family in Sisters, a devoted Home Teacher and Visiting Teacher, and long talks on the phone with Belva, she had everything she needed or probably wanted at the time. Margaret has graduated and Belva has passed a critical test, choosing to serve God as well as her mother in these last months of her tour on this earth.

"Just a note that after 95 strong years, my mother passed away in her home on the evening of Nov 4, 2009. I have enjoyed talking to her every few days here from Denmark for as long as we wanted to talk about her busy life and about our mission. It has been a wonderful opportunity to share with her all my discouragements and happy times. Things that you only want to share with your mother. Life is way too short even after 95 years. She will be so missed. All of our children, and Stephanie with her family will fly or drive to Sisters, Oregon for our final good byes. Mother's only living sister, I think that she is about 90..was with her when she died. I was hoping that she would wait until our return home in July.. before she would leave us..but Heavenly Father invited her home this month instead. We hope to fly to Sisters, Oregon as soon as possible and will be there for ten days or so. Then back to Denmark. Life is bitter and sweet. Love you all and wish we could be together to share our lives once again. Keep us in your prayers. Love, Belva"

We love you Belva and we know that your mother, right, loves you and will be closer to you now, with her new-found freedom. Go take care of business and we'll see you on SKYPE when you return.

The miracles are beginning to come 10/29/09

2009-10-29T22:02:00.007+06:00

Weather
Partly cloudy, cold, not much snow, morning fog
Ice everywhere
High 10 F / Low 5F

Sister Calderwood, a relatively new missionary who arrived on the 19th of August (second from the right in the second row) today reported the following Miracle in Tomsk in the mission email.

Each Tuesday and Thursday the missionaries conduct an English Club meeting where interested people can come and practice speaking their English with native Americans. After the club meeting on Tuesday a woman named Lubov came up to sister Caulderwood with this story that she writes to us:

I had given the spiritual thought about the Plan of Salvation at the end of Tuesday's English Club. After the end of the meeting, a woman who had been sitting over on the side came up to me very intently and I could see that she was dying to know more about the church. I Got her phone number and I did my best to talk to her in Russian, promising that we would call and make an appointment. We went home and called her the next morning but the number was incorrect and we were very disappointed that we could not meet with her.

On Thursday, she came again to English and afterward she came up to my companion, Sister Bistrova, in an excited fluster, explaining how on Tuesday night she had had a dream about our church and in it she had seen a book that she had never seen before, but in her dream she knew somehow that it was the word of God. When Elder Nelson held up the Book of Mormon as he gave his spiritual thought on Thursday and she recognized it as THAT book that she had seen in her dream.

As we met twice with her later, she shared her search for truth. As we all watched the DVD on the Restoration she was almost in tears the whole time. It was clear that there were many events in her life that had pointed her to this moment. She was prepared of God, no doubt or question. She has been prepared in evey aspect of the gospel and it really is a miracle. We were able to meet with her twice, but she actually lives 4 days away by train in a town 300 km from Ulan Ude, but wants to move to Tomsk. Lubov is truly one of those miracles that have been promised.

What a miracle. What a country.
DS

It has finally happened 10/29/03

2009-10-29T21:57:00.010+06:00

Weather
Overcast, cold, foggy, lots of ice
Temp high 10F / low 5F
Wind 3-5 mph

Someone has fallen in the storm drain in the street in front of our house, next to the drive way; Sister Woodhouse! Here she is on the far right with her companion, Sister Boggs.

Background:
The right bank sisters, Sister Woodhouse and Sister Boggs, brought one of their investigators, Anna, to dinner tonight before English Club. We had a great meeting during dinner and Anna felt the Holy Ghost as we bore our testimonies of God's love for her and the truth that the sisters were teaching her. Here she is with Anna at a Family Home Evening a few weeks ago.

Deep background:
From the first day we moved into this apartment, I have been expecting someone to fall into an uncovered storm drain in front of our house. It is located in the gutter on our side of the street about 10 yards from the driveway. The picture below shows it during the spring thaw last April, looking at our building from the opposite side of the street. The open storm drain is the first in a series of four, end to end, with this second one missing the grating so that it is about a 18 x 36 inch hole in the gutter. The picture at the right shows it during the thaw with a hole in the center, probably made by some "newby" that stepped on it just at the right time to go through. Earlier in the winter the ice was a foot thick and able to bear even the weight of cars passing over it.
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The picture below is just another of the winter hazards. Here it is the uncovered maintenance entry to the heating pipes buried in the ground in front of the houses between them and the street. Someone tried to cover it with an old door, but here it is eschew. During the deep winter these are covered with ice and snow with only the covers, or in this case the collar, showing because they stay warm even when it is 40 below. At night they are all but invisible as you walk past them to our building. With that as background, here is the story.

The three ladies, Sisters Woodhouse and Boggs with Anna, left our apartment in a hurry to get to English Club; they were late of course. From our front door, they could either go through the "woods", the thicket of trees between our building and the street, or right, through the parking lot and then left across the street toward the office and the Oktyabraskaya Metro station on Kirova, right in front of the office.

They chose the latter and headed out almost at a gallop. As they hurried across the parking lot, they missed the driveway and decided to cross the dirt area between the parking lot and street (now covered with snow and ice) just at the right place. Sister Woodhouse was in the lead and stepping off the curb plunged shest-deep into the a fore mentioned open storm drain. She describes it this way:

There were two cars coming from the right and two from the left. We were in a hurry, so we ( I ) decided we could cross before they got to us if we hurried. I was focused on the cars and making sure the three of us got across the road before they arrived and just didn't see what was there in darkness along the curb of the street.

As I stepped into the hole, my book bag hit the ground and scattered its contents; books, English invitations, calendar book, and the usual miscellaneous purse items; across the entire width of the street. As I hit bottom, between four and five feet down, and the purse went flying, the cars stopped with their headlights shining right on me with just my shoulders, arms and head showing. I am sure the occupants got a good laugh as I did my little trick. You can bet that none of them rushed to my aid.

As Anna and Sister Boggs hurried to pick up my bag's contents in the glare of the four cars' headlights, I stood very still in the storm drain, assessing my physical condition. Finding no pain and everything in tact, except for a bump on one knee, I struggled to get out of the hole, but with my dress and coat wedged into it with my legs and torso, I couldn't get out. I could not even try to get a leg out of the hole for lack of space. Of course, I started to laugh.

Seeing my struggles, Sister Boggs came over to me and tried to pull me out of the drain by the arm; no good. We were all laughing so hard that it was just impossible. I was wedged in pretty tight and could give no assistance to any attempt to pull me out as well as laughing uncontrolably. I couldn't even jump up to clear the hole because I couldn't bend my legs. I finally had to press myself up enough to bend at the waist and lay on the street. Rolling over, I cleared the hole with as much grace as possible, being on stage and under the spotlight as I was, and got to my feet.

Finally, free of the hole and collecting my things, we waved to the cars and got across the street, again headed for the office and the Metro station beyond. We took a short-cut across the big parking lot next to our building, still laughing so hard it made it difficult to walk straight, when suddenly Sister Boggs disappeared. She had slipped on the ice and landed in a heap of sheepskin leather coat, bag, hat and scarf laughing too hard to get up. That caused another seizure of hysteria in all of us as we helped her up and tried again to hurry to the Metro. We were now hopelessly late and out of breath with laughter.

As you can see, the Sisters enjoy each other and Anna was right in the thick of it. Laughter is the cure for almost everything in life and these sisters are abundantly blessed with it. Especially when things happen that you didn't expect and could not control, laughter is the remedy, even here in Russia.

We first heard this story from the sisters themselves as they reported in to Sister Cindy after English Club. Thank you sisters for that story and for being such wonderful example of how to handle life's little surprises and bumps. We love you and hope your knees heal up quickly.

What a pair of great missionaries. What a country.
DS

2009-10-27T21:00:00.010+06:00

Weather
Clear skies with occasional cloud covering
Temp 19F at 9:00 pm Tuesday 10/27/09
Low tonight 10F
Wind 3-5 mph

SPRASNIKUM to ME!

Sprasnikum is a greeting of congratulations given on celebratory occasions. In this case, I give it to myself on my birthday because today I am beginning my 68th year of experience on this world and 67 years of absence from God's world where I was given a spirit body and was taught at the knee of those I have forgotten for the moment.

With more of my life behind me than ahead, I often think of those days, as if there were days in eternity before my birth, and wonder how it all came about. How did I progress from being a disembodied intelligence to becoming a spirit child of Heavenly Father to eventually warranting birth into this mortal existence with its wonders and challenges.

What did I love? Whom did I love? Who were my classmates and my friends? Did I love music then? With whom did I make promises much like the "I'll write you every day" promises after a summer together or with whom did I make more solemn oaths to find and bring into God's kingdom during mortality because I was to be born in the Covenant and they where not. Have I done well? Have I found them? Of those we have met here or in Sacramento or in Germany or on cruise ships or in elevators, or . . .? Have I found them?

I feel sure that I found some of them, those whom I recognize immediately as strangers that I know intimately, and I think I have planted seeds with some others who might be them, but where are the others? I know I found Sister Cindy and that's an oath that I fulfilled, not without doubts and not without wanderings before she made the commitment to baptism, but with complete fidelity and eternal continuance once she joined me in the Kingdom. How can I find the others?

Well amidst all of this reminiscence, I enjoyed the day with many renderings of "Happy Birthday"; cookies from Julia; candy from Pyotr & Olga; lemon-chicken, mashed potatoes, and crispy non-chocolate chip cookies from Sister Cindy; a baptism commitment from Lenna at dinner tonight with Sisters Woodhouse and Boggs; and three playings of Neil Diamond's "America" and two playings of John Denver's "Country Roads" all played much too loud. What a day.

Thank you for all who remembered me, my family, my Russian friends, my missionaries, my great companion and even my friends in Sacramento. Diane Keys, my favorite sister, set up SKYPE in her Seminary class and called this evening about 7:30 pm which was about that time AM in Sacramento, where I got a rendering of Happy Birthday and the opportunity to tell the class, made up of many of our Sacramento friends, about our mission, the weather, the people, and our goal to get 62 more baptisms in the mission by December 31. I explained the background and asked for their prayers for our missionaries. Actually, I, we, were an object lesson for the allegory of the olive tree in Jacob 5, being grafted into a tree in the nethermost part of the vineyard.

I am grateful for the day, grateful to be allowed to be here on this mission in Siberia, grateful for Sister Cindy and my family whom we had to struggled to find, grateful for my health, grateful for the means to pay for this mission, and grateful to Jesus Christ as my personal savior and the redeemer of all mankind. I don't remember the meeting, nor the confrontation between Heavenly Father and Satan, but I know that it took place, I know that I was there, I know that I choose to follow Jehovah, and I know that he did do what he promised to do for me and for you as part of Father's plan for us.

Now it is up to me, and each of us, to do what WE promised to do. There is no sacrifice, there is no labor, there is no gift, there is nothing within our grasp that we can do to repay that Jesus of Nazareth for what he did for us. If we labor our whole lives to serve him, still we are in his debt. Surely just two years of service is not enough, but it is there on the alter just the same.

I hope that each of us will realize our debt to Jesus Christ and continue to put our sacrifice on the alter. What is it that we can, or are willing to, sacrifice, to give, in His service. What Sister Cindy and I have done here is no sacrifice. It has been a great blessing. I have tried to find the sacrifice in it and just cannot. In fact, we are planning our next mission right now. Oh, I miss artichokes and ripe tomatoes from the garden and my hot tub, and playing Hand and Foot with my friends, but I guess I will have to find something else to sacrifice because being here isn't it.

Happy birthday Elder Grampa.

What a guy. What a country.
DS

Here Comes the Snow 10/24/09

2009-10-25T21:36:00.012+06:00

Weather
Snow, snow, snow
Temp 26F at 9:30 pm and 21F tonight (at least that will stop the snow from melting on the flashing over the windows of the Cabo Room and leaking all over what's left of my dacha.)
Wind northerly (from the north) 10-15 mph

Well, it has started. The snow began Thursday evening and has not stopped for more than a couple of hours at a time since then. We have about 6 inches on the ground and it looks like it will be there 'til May.

I am always (well, maybe not always) reluctant to attribute what my Russian friends say to all Russians, but, oh heck, I guess I will anyway. Siberian Russians hate the snow. There, now all of you experts on the Russian psyche can comment on the blog and tell me what REALLY is the case. That notwithstanding, Russians hate the snow. That seems rather strange since they have so much of it, but here's the story as reported to me by authoritative sources.

To fully explain this, one must consider a broader element of the Russian mind-set. Russians love freedom; Not actually the political kind, but the personal kind; the kind that expresses itself in doing what you want when you want where you want and to whom you want. I have written about this in the past. Russians live with the idea that if you can do it; do it! They hate anything that limits that mind-set and find very creative ways to limit, avoid, get around, or otherwise eliminate limits.

This expresses itself in the piles of trash exposed during the spring thaw. If you are through with something, you simply place it as a token of your prior presence in that spot, maybe in the belief that some day someone will build a monument to your having been there. In the meantime, you leave your own marker.

It also expresses itself in dress, fashion in general, but particularly in women's fashion which makes it perfectly reasonable to wear a black evening dress complete with plunging neckline, rhinestone necklace, long rhinestone dangle earrings and 6-inch spike heals to work during the day, or a sequin, glow-in-the-dark red dress with a plunging back past the waist and cowboy boots on the metro at noon. This is a statement of a freedom-loving people.

Well, that all changes with the first sticking snow. The freedom so much enjoyed and so much a part of the Russian soul is curtailed beyond resistance by the icy grip of winter that sets, and demands compliance to, its limitations. I have seen both young men and young women partially disrobe in the warmth of a Metro car to reveal those flashes of independence, a brawny chest, a well-turned thigh, or ample bosom in defiance of winter; still, they will not be controlled. However, winter does cramp one's style and forces everyone to acknowledge nature's power, and they hate it.

Even the babushkas that ply the streets under our window show a palpable air of resistance to the season. I watched one walking from the direction of Kirova (to the right of our building) probably to her house (to our left) with a heavy shopping bag in one hand and a purse in the other. She was bent forward into the westerly wind, long coat flapping around her calves, her knit cap covered with the falling snow, struggling to keep her balance on the slippery, snow-covered sidewalk, but making her way as best she could, undaunted by the circumstances. It was her shopping day and she would not be denied by the weather, although it made the trip more hazardous as a slip and fall on the street could mean a broken leg or hip and probably no one to help her.

Regardless, this hated snow will cover their world for half the year and cannot be denied. There is certainly a beauty to it and we, as Californians, think it is "fun", or at least a new experience, to live in the snow. The Russians fight against winter by showing it that they are undaunted. They make ice sculptures worthy of an art gallery, ice-block slides to delight young and old, a snowboarding hill for the 20-somethings on the left back near the now-silent amusement park, and a plethora of furs that make quite a fashion statement all their own.

The Spirit also plays a part in winter duties. Yuri Gushchin, our mission driver asked me last Monday for the money to buy new snow tires (with metal studs) for President Trejo's car because he wanted president to have the better set and he would take his old set. The tires were bought on Tuesday, installed on Wednesday, and it snowed on Thursday. You can't beat that for timing.

As fate would have it, We just talked to Elder Kolpakov, one of the Zone Leaders, during his nightly call to check on our condition and he mentioned how much he liked the snow. I thought I was going to have to erase this whole posting until Sister Cindy reminded me that he is from Rostov where they have palm trees and almost never much snow. He said, "Yeh, it is like a lot of ice cream on the ground. I love it." Well, he doesn't count as a Siberian Russian so I am going to keep this posting.

As I watched the "babka" walk along below my window I also thought about how lonely it must be for the old people who have survived the unhealthy life-style, bad water, winters, and all the changes of the last 20 years to now be left alone in a world they don't yet quite understand. The old ways and the old friends are gone and they are left to try and survive another winter. I so wished that I could have run down the stairs and taken her heavy bag down the street with her and just said that I cared; and that God cares. Not only could I not get dressed and down the stairs fast enough, but I don't have the language skils to deliver that message. Maybe one of the Sister missionaries will contact her, . . . or maybe it will have to wait until she hears the message in Paradise. I don't know.

What a country.
DS

A Note to Nikki 10/24/09

2009-10-24T10:59:00.015+07:00

Weather
Snow, Lots of it blowing past our window
Temp 1C (32F)
Wind 15-20 mph

Yes Nikki, Elder Bindrup IS dying on November 11 along with the four missionaries from our zone and the four other across Siberia. He has been one of our very favorite missionaries. He went away a couple of transfers ago to Krasnoyarsk and I've only spoken to him on the phone occasionally. I get the sense that November 11 is circled on your calendar; Yes?

Well, thanks for the reminder about all of those 9 who will be leaving. They include Elders Bendixsen, Bindrup, Illarionov, Jessee, Kravchenko, Luddington, and Young. They also include Sisters Kiselyove and Woodhouse. They will each depart this "life" with much different feelings. For some, this will have been a sacrifice and a separation from all they hold dear. For some, they will leave behind almost all they hold dear because they will go home to people who may not value what they have done the last one and a half or two years.

I am sure that you will be part of the welcome home for Elder Bindrup as will other "Nikkis" for these and other American Elders and Sisters coming home every transfer. Knowing Sister Woodhouse and hearing the stories about her family, I can just hear the squeals and laughter as they greet her at the airport. That will be the day parents pray for and siblings anticipate, but I cannot help remembering that the other sister will go "home" to a new city where she will have to find an apartment and a job because she is not welcome back into her own home in her own home town.

I wish, and I hope, that there will be someone who will welcome these eastern European missionaries. I pray that someone will love them and appreciate them, but most of all, I hope, I pray, that they can stay strong in the Gospel the rest of their lives. Their best hope and our best service to them will be to bring more of God's children into the community of saints to love and support each other and help to keep the world away.

I do not want to throw cold water on your anticipation after "two whole years". This home-coming will be a triumph and a championship few others in the world will ever experience. The feelings of love and joy are well deserved and part of the result of a job well done. I just am reminding myself that those of us from LDS families and LDS communities around the world that we have little sense of what these eastern European missionaries will face and endure the rest of their lives as they look back on the best two years they will have. We loose too many to the world and I cannot bear to think of my, our, missionaries loosing the battle with Satan. I cannot hold back the tears even as I write this, thinking of the struggles and battles they will endure. Life is hard for the saints of Russia and all of the former Soviet countries. I hope you, and the others who read this blog will remember them in your prayers and not leave them without at least that support.

God's speed Elder Bindrup, and God's speed to all the Elder Bindrups, but I pray for extra angels to be assigned to these native missionaries who will struggle with the world, mostly alone, the rest of their lives. God's speed and special support for you great Sisters and Elders. We love you.

What a great group. What a country
DS

Zone Conference and Farewell to Four 10/22/09

2009-10-22T22:01:00.009+07:00

Weather
Snowing, finally
Temp .08C (32F)
Wind gale-force at times, currently 10-15 mh

Today was the Novosibirsk Zone Conference at the Zolani Kupola building from 9AM to 3PM. It included several talks by President and Sister Trejo, several work shops by the Assistants to the President on teaching techniques, lunch, and testimonies.

President Trejo's spiritual message was to the point that we, as missionaries, are the only thing that can stand in the way of our achieving the mission's goal of 144 baptisms this year. We currently stand at 80 and have two months to go. He gave scriptures to support the fact that God the Father is a God of miracles, but He can only bless us according to the level of faith we have. I translated that into, "We are the gate or the stumbling block to the miracles of God." I want to be the gate.

During the lunch time I interviewed Elder Luddington about a miracle that he and Elder Potter experienced earlier in the week. This story is no less a miracle than the one in the Church's "How Rare a Possession" DVD including the story of a catholic priest who discovers a copy of the Book of Mormon, minus the cover and introduction pages, and uses it in his teachings until he finally meets the missionaries and joins the church.

Well, Victor traded a can of beer for this book (The Book of Mormon) in 1999. After reading the book and believing what he read, he tried to find someone associated with the Church but never located anyone. Living in a village about 25 minutes east of Snigeri (a large village about 30 minutes from the center of Novosibirsk) he came into town only occasionally to work and returned home to the village. Earlier he had given up atheism and joined the Orthodox Church, but later joined the Baptists for the fellowship.

The Elders found him quite by accident. They had decided to "contact" in a new area that they don't usually go into and found Victor walking along the street. When they approached him with something about Jesus Christ and the fact that there is a church today with prophets and apostles he was interested. When they mentioned the Book of Mormon, he said that he felt that God had answered his prayers. At their first formal meeting, Victor knew everything they taught him was true because it was in the Book. They expect him to be baptized soon.

After lunch we celebrate the month's birthdays. In this case, it was ours. They sang to us and we got to choose a candy bar of our choice. I almost chose Skittles, but that's Elder Rainsdon's favorite breakfast so I chose a Snickers while mom took a chocolate bar with raspberry filling.

Another great part of the Conference is the goodbye song to the departing missionaries this transfer (November 11th). As we sang "God Be With You Til We Meet Again", it was a cascade of very mixed feelings we all experienced. These include sadness at loosing them; compassion for what they will face in their decompression back into civilian life; realization that we must press on without their influence, experience, skills, and contacts; and just saying goodbye to friends we love. Elder Young, Elder Luddington, Sister Woodhouse, and Sister Kesilyova will be missed. Each has a story and each is a treasure. Parting truly is a sweet sorrow for everyone.

What a group of great missionaries. What a country.
D.S.

The Death of Elder Gardner 9/29/09

2009-10-14T22:42:00.009+07:00

I must immediately explain that Elder Gardner did not actually die as you and I think of death. It is a mission expression, a way of talking about coming into the mission, your life here, and then your leaving; your death in the mission. When you enter the mission you are born, your first senior companion is your father, those in the district are your cousins, when you are released you die.

Elder Garner is one of those people that is easy to like and hard to forget. He has a highly developed sense of self-worth that is, for the most part, well founded. He can walk into a room of strangers and make a dozen friends and a couple of enemies before he leaves.

He spent a lot of time in Tomsk with the Bowdens and we saw him often in Zone Conferences and finally he was one of our Zone Leaders for several transfers. He came to our home often for dinner and here is wondering if Elder Petersen was going to plant his dessert on his Zone Leader's talkative face.

When he began to think about going home, he talked about playing some kind of joke on his parents, like coming a day early and just walking into the house like he'd been there every day for the last two years. He thought up numerous schemes to get one up on them, but never seemed to make them happen. His mother wrote to us to thank us for feeding her son and she remarked that he never talked about the time he'd come home and was never "trunky". I believe that. He was a driving missionary right to the last day.

When he came into the office to give up his ATM card and get checked out of the mission office, I took some pictures of his shoes and suit which he wore to make a point to his family. This pair of shoes attests to the time he spent on his feet in the streets of the Novosibirsk Mission. His suit shows the wear that all of us who wear them share can display. The sand and ice just eat the hems of the pant legs and you start looking pretty ragged after a short time during the winter.

The other part that shows a lot of wear in the arm-holes and inside pockets of the suit coat where missionaries store their planners, English invitation cards, tri-fold literature of various kinds, pens, passports, and anything else they don't want to carry heir hands or book bags. He said that he was going to have the shoes bronzed and the suit put in a shadow box for display. That remains to be seen.

Finally, here he is with Sister Nichuniyeva who was being transferred to Omsk on the same day. There is more than one way to leave a district and she is leaving by transfer while he is dieing. We expect to see her again before she dies as well. She spent two transfers with us and we love her.
We wish them both well in their new lives; she in Omsk and he in Utah somewhere.

The flight home was with the Bowdens and this seems to be "the rest of the story". When they landed in New York, they had to go through customes, recheck their bags and make it to their domestic departure gate in record time. As I might have expected, Elder Gardner, being in a bit of a hurry, did not show something required at the new security gate and was delayed, or more correctly, delayed all three of them so that they had to make a dash for the departure gate some distance away.

The story is told by the Bowdens that as they were literally running down the corridor to their gate, rounding a corner, they ran into his parents who were the ones who played the trick in this case by meeting him in the New York airport and flying home with him to Utah. It seems that must have been a fun and noisy ride.

We will miss Elder Gardner as we will miss many of those returning missionaries. We wish him and them all, God's speed and happy lives as they are born again in the world they left behind.

What a missionary. What a country.
DS