Weather and Other Unpredictable Events

Well, the weather in Moscow is certainly more predictable than the market. It zoomed ahead 900 points yesterday (just another trillion up; now we will wait for the 'down'). We have no snow in the forecast until November 7. It is still in the forties and fifties. This time last year it was very cold and it had already snowed before we arrived in early October. We have been told that during unusually warm winters there has been little evidence of snow until the first of January. We can only hope!

We have been accepted at the hotel where we will be having the Interim Mission Presidents' Seminar in February. I cannot disclose it at this moment, because I am not ready to reveal it to some who frequent this blog. Let me just say that this is a very Russian hotel. We had to prepare a letter of introduction and it had to be signed and stamped (we have told you before, Russians are big on stamps!!) by our officials so that it could formally accepted and signed by the hotel's general manager. We must have met their standard! When we do make our announcement, sometime in the not too distant future, I will post some pictures. I am sure you will be impressed.

Did I mention that I had to buy a hard drive to backup my computer? Thankfully, I was able to buy a standard American brand that I should be able to use on any computer (320 gigs). My computer has been acting up lately. Two times it failed to boot. But with a prayer and gentle kick, I got it start both times. Now I just leave it on all the time. Maybe that's where they got the term "boot-up a computer!" Oh well, we have been praying over this computer for months now. The screen started to flicker while we were in the MTC. Thankfully, I was able to get a monitor, so I have avoided that problem for the time being.

We had FHE with the Masons and the Irelands last night. It was a small group, but we had a yummy chocolate cake with mounds of cherry filling and ice cream. It made me a believer, once again, that it is time to go on a diet. Today is day one and I have been perfect!!

Another mission blessing... David Nearon has a bad knee that has been ailing him for sometime. The cold weather and soon the snow and ice would have been a real challenge. So he has booked a driver to go to and from the office. There is just enough room for four!! Guess who the other two are? Thanks David and Linda.