Burton’s Missionary Tales

Posted By burtons on February 5, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

Another week has come and gone.  We had some great experiences this week.  I have to admit though that I can’t remember what we did on Monday.  So I will have to start with Tues.

Tues was Zone conference.  That is a real treat.  We get to spend part of the day with those marvelous young Missionaries.  We get very attached to our districts and because we now have enough missionaries, we got to keep this district for three transfers.  We only had one or two changes in the last 18 weeks.  We go to district meeting two time is a six week period; some times three times.  Then we see them each Sunday at church.  Our whole district is assigned to one Branch.  It is the largest branch in Moscow and has almost a ward feel to it.  We have six Elders and two Sisters in our district this time around.  We usually get the largest district as we have the second largest apartment among the senior couples.

The topic for this conference was the true vine.  President Cranney taught us that Christ is the true vine.  He used the analogy of a grape vine that must be pruned ruthlessly to make it bear good fruit.  We are the shoots which must be trained so that we can bear good fruit. He used Jacob chapter 5 and John chapter 15.  May I recommend that you read and study John 15.  It is the Savior’s final instructions to the apostles before Gethsemane.  I think you will really enjoy feasting on those words.

At Zone Conf. they also played Jeopardy.  It amazes me what you can do with a computer now days.  The game taught metro safety, senior couples, mission contact information and a couple of just for fun categories.  It was a spiritual and social feast.  These meetings really help our young missionaries recharge their batteries, and get ready to go back out on these cold Moscow streets. Another marvelous part of Zone Conf. is that the Zone Leaders prepare and give instruction to the rest of the missionaries and they do such a great job. They are really being taught the principle of stewardship.  I don’t know what other missions are like, but we must have the cream of the crop here, because these young people are spiritual giants who are only going to keep increasing in wisdom, knowledge and leadership skills.  Another good part of Zone conference is lunch.  The last two times the branches here in Moscow have prepared lunch for us.  This month we had borscht.  Yum.  I am hoping to learn to make it while I am here.  Another soup to add to my repertoire.

We have had our coldest week so far since we have been here.  It has been between – 14 Celsius and -21 Celsius this week.  -14 is  about 7 degrees Fahrenheit and -21 is about -6 degrees Fahrenheit.  Pretty cold.  I am so glad I have a warm Russian coat.  Marlene loaned it to me and it has saved my life.  The fur around the hood keeps my face from freezing.  DeVere and I are surprised that we don’t feel the cold like we thought we would.

Wednesday we went to work early and we had a beautiful walk.  It was really cold and the moisture in the air had frozen and fallen to the the ground.  The sidewalk just glistened as if glitter had been sprinkled all over. The air was full of sparkles that brushed you cheeks and grabbed the back of your throat as you breathed it in.  The trees had sparkles on them as well and the whole world  looked like a Fairy Tale landscape.  The Happy Ever After kind.

Wednesday we went on a project visit to a town about 2 and half hours from Moscow.  We got a car thanks to the insistence of the Branch president in the town we visited.  It is a very small Branch.  Average attendance at Sacrament meeting is six.  But president Cranney says Pres. Vladimir is one of the strongest members in this area.  He wanted us to help buy new windows for a maternity hospital.   We got to the town earlier that we anticipated, (No traffic jams, very unusual, so we toured the sports complex that Sister Natalya works  and of which the Pres. Vladimir oversaw the construction.  It was amazing and when you consider this town is only about a quarter of the size of Twin Falls, it really makes you think.  Beautiful swimming pool, indoor soccer field/basketball court/volleyball court, dance studio, Chess room, ping pong room, weight room, tread mills and much, much more. (It is a regional facility for the Moscow Oblast {State}.

At 11:00 we met with the assistant director of the region (county) and he expressed his wish that we would be able to help.  We then toured the facility.  They definitely need the new windows.  They need 40 more windows to complete their remodel of the clinic, we hope we can provide about half that.  They are expensive.

After the visit we were invited to the president’s home for lunch.  We went to their tiny apartment and visited while the president made a vegetable soup, which he served with bread and cheese and compote which is a drink they make with fruit, sugar and hot water.  We were about done eating when his wife sister Natalya came home.  She was absolutely thrilled that we were still there.  She sat down and talked with us for a long time (all of this with a translator) and when we had to go, she about cried.  They so need more members out there.  They meet in the president’s home for church.

On the way home, our driver took us to see a monument to some young soldiers who slowed down the advance of Hitler’s Army for enough time for the army from the Asian front to get to Moscow.  There were 28 of them and they were all killed eventually.  I will try to attach a photo.  He then took us to the grave site of these young men which has another monument.  He also took us to a beautiful church called New Jerusalem that was bombed during the war and which they are restoring.  I would really like to see this site in summer and again when it is finished.  It was huge.  It had been a monastery and was build in the 17th century.  Our driver is very proud of his Russia and you could just see it as he took us to several more sites that afternoon.  He says we are the first missionaries to see the monuments.  He said it was “exclusive”.  He must have learned the word for the occasion because he speaks about as much English as I speak Russian, hardly any. But he is fun.  We thoroughly enjoy his teasing and trying to communicate with us.

Saturday we had a District (Stake) service project.  In Oct all the senior couples gave 1000 rubles to the district RS to buy some gifts for the residents of a boarding house;  it is kind of like a nursing home.  With this money the RS bought a wash cloth, lotion, booties socks and a comb for each of the residents.  We were suppose to deliver them before Christmas, but because of the fear of Swine flu the boarding house was quarantined until recently.  We metroed and walked to the home and then sang.  We seniors did three hymns from the hymn book in English and then we sat down with the residents and listened as the Russian members sang tradition Russian songs.  The residents loved it.  They sang and clapped and in the end some of them got up and danced.  It was wonderful.  We would so love to have the translation of these songs.  They all tell stories.  One sister told us that some of them were about the war and some of them were just funny.When the singing was done, we handed out the sacks with the gifts in them.  We could only take a few at a time, and the residents had this look on their face wondering if they were going to get something.  When we would hand something to them their faces would light up like a Christmas tree.   What a special day.  Afterwards all the senior couples but the Overly’s who were able to come, came over to our house for a light lunch.  We are so blessed with wonderful friends both from home and here in this wonderful nation.

We continue to enjoy our mission.  We have new adventures almost ever day.  We have two new couples and it is fun to see what we must have looked like when we first came and how shocking we found things and how nervous we were.  Now we just enjoy the adventure and wonder what will happen next.

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Categories: Aid & Projects
Tags: Analogy, Apostles, Dear Family, Elders, Family And Friends, Feast, Gethsemane, Good Fruit, Grape Vine, Jacob, LDS Church, Missionaries, Moscow Russia, Moscow Streets, Project War, Savior, Senior Couples, Three Times, Two Sisters, War Memorials, Zone Conference