We Made It!

It was four o'clock in the morning when the alarm went off. Thirty minutes later an Elder was at the door to help us with our luggage. The bus and a truck to carry 50 missionaries and their luggage to the airport was already loading when we got there a little after 5:00 a.m. The young missionaries were already loaded up and were most helpful in helping the seniors get their bags loaded (They were told to be there a half hour before the senior couples. Much to our surprise, my language trainer and his wife were there to wish us luck. They stood there holding a sign in Russian. Translated it read, "Return with Honor." Then, as we were pulling out of the parking lot, there they were again, up ahead of us, holding their sign and waving.

The ride to the MTC was comfortable and without incident. We got a skycap to help us with our bags and headed for check-in. Our five bags each weighed 50 pounds exactly (the limit) with the exeption of one that weighed 51 pounds. We took out an envelope and brought us back to 50 again. The gate agent was quite surprise that we were so exact in our weights. We were pleasantly surprised ourselves.

The plane took off a few minutes late because a lightbulb was not working somewhere. We made up some of that time and were at the gate to board to Moscow with a 15 minute wait. We found plenty of overhead room for our carry-on luggage and we were off. The flight was pleasant, but in coach, we found it a little difficult to sleep.


We arrive in Moscow with about 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground. The temperature was just below freezing. We were dressed for it though since to make weight we were wearing our heavy coats and I was wearing my boots.

Our luggage came through just fine. They checked my luggage cart but not Chris',who was holding my prescriptions, so that was a relief. We didn't have to open anything. They just x-rayed our four Samsonite bags. The Gish's were there to pick us up with Yuri, one of the church's drivers, and we were off to Truman's World (Rosinka), where the Gibbons reside.

They have lovely place, which we are very happy to stay in while we are searching for an apartment. The rest of the day we just unpacked and puttered around, until we got a call to see if we would like to look at some apartments. So we took off for about three hours to look at three apartments. We were very disappointed with what we saw on day one. They were in poor condition and they were just beyond the upper limits of our budget.

Day Two, we went to the office to begin our training. We are happy to have the Gish's as our trainers. They are a very friendly couple, who are on their second mission, having just completed a mission to Bulgaria, 90 days before they were called again to Russia! Chris is sure that they will be translated upon their return!

My first day I attended a monthly series of meetings that began in the morning and ended in the late afternoon. The first meeting is called the Executive Coordinating Council (ECC) Meeting, where the heads of each department meet to coorelate activities. Those in attendance included our General Counsel, the Director of Temporal Affairs (this is a huge job), the Director Public Affairs (very much involved in facilitating relationships with people in government and the community at large), and the manager of Welfare and Humanitarian Activities (we are doing a lot), to mention a few. These individuals are full time employees of the church. I was impressed with the caliber and quality of our people and their passion and dedication for the work they have been assigned to do. My job, in these meetings, is to listen and discern key actions and decisions that result from these discussions. I am in the process of summarizing these into a report for the Presidency.

The Council meeting was followed with a series of meetings with each of the department heads. These meetings continued through to the next day. These meetings occur once a month.

Later that day, we went apartment shopping again, with no better results. We were a little discouraged, but Elder Gibbons assured me that they were in no hurry to kick us out and for us to take our time.

At the end of the second day at the office, we went out again to look for apartments. By this time the snow was gone and the weather was bright and sunny. The temperature was around 50 degrees. We found one that we really like. The location is perfect and it was clean(!), no oders and good security, but it had a room we really don't need and that pushed it quite aways past our budget, but in early negotiations, the landlord dropped her price by $300 a month, though still beyond our budget by 50 percent. We will continue our negotiations today, and have appointments to look at two or three others tonight. We were going to look at some newer apartments, but the prices begin at $4,000 (probably one room with a murphy bed) a month, before utilities and internet. The apartments we are looking at are called Stalin-Era mid-20th century apartments.


No meetings scheduled for today. So I will try to make the best use of my time with Elder Gish. This will be our last day with Gish's.

Chris has spent the first two days getting an orientation to her job from Sister Gish. She was having a hard time staying awake yesterday, still suffering from a little jet lag and sitting in a chair all day getting the download from Sister Gish. She has a big and very busy job. Elder Gish indicated that he thought Sister Gish was busier than he has been.

I will post some pictures that illustrate some these events tomorrow, when I have more time. I is now 5:00 a.m. and it is time to get ready for work!!