Fairwell to the Gish's

Tonight we had an elegant dinner hosted by President Paul and his wife, with President Pieper and his wife and the Gish's. This is the couple that we are replacing. (Well they could never be replaced!!) I have seen a number of emails come through to wish the Gish's well and to thank them for their service. They have truly touched the lives of many people here in Russia. We had a wonderful dinner. A cooked red cabbage dish that I can't remember the name was excellent. It is made with apples and onions and three spices that are only known by their German names. So the recipe will remain safely with Sister Paul. We had a wonderful Goulash with boiled potatoes and a lovely dessert made from a cheese that I also can't remember the name of. But it was delicious.

What wonderful conversation we had a dinner. We talked about the gospel, the restoration and many other interesting and important topics. Elder Pieper made one comment that I thought was particularly instructive. He indicated that for those outside of the church who feel that Joseph Smith was a false prophet, that they might consider how many false prophets that they are aware of who have prepetuated generations of prophets that followed them. Yet Joseph has 14 prophets who have followed him for nearly 200 years. All honorable men that have followed the teachings of the prophet consistently, not adding or subtracting one part of the gospel or the principles revealed by the prophet Joseph. Many of these principles are just now being understood and put into practice, such as the organization of the Seventy. Just food for thought!

We had russian pizza for lunch, and I must say, it was as good as any pizza I have eaten in the states. That was a pleasant surprise. Maybe we should find an apartment farther away from the office so that we could walk more and eat more pizza!!

Webmaster

Today I a had a little time to check out a fairly new concept called LDS Teams, that allows different departments within the church to create their own web pages within the Church's Intranet. It's a little like creating a blog, except that other individuals can contribute to the blog, such as posting an agenda for a meeting and letting certain individuals add items to that agenda, or posting a calendar that everyone can read and that some people can edit. Another use would be to post forms that are needed to transact business that anyone can print right off the site. If prepared properly, a person could actually fill out a form online and print it off. There are many other features that I have yet to explore. Those of you in business are probably interacting in this manner routinely. Now it is my job to create the web presence for the Europe East Area. I think it will be a lot of fun and certainly a learning experience. And who knows, it might even improve our productivity!!

Just as I was getting excited about LDS teams, we had 5 apartment showings cancel. We continue to get closer on the one just across the street, but there is still a sticking point about registration. In Russia, foreigners are registered based on their place of residence with the local authorities, generally by their landlords. Our landlord refuses to get involved in this kind of activity. If we visit another city for more than three days, we have to register in that city. In the case of a short trip, like to St. Petersburg, for example, this would be done by the hotel. However, when we go in and out of the country to renew our visas we must re-register in Moscow. This will happen several times over the 18-month period. At the present time, the church can register us, but these laws are subject to frequent change. The government's preference is to give this responsibility to the landlord. If the landlord refuses to register us, we have to look for another apartment. That we would rather avoid. We are exploring the possibility of getting a power of attorney, so that we can assign someone in the office to register us, in his name, so he would not have to be inconvenienced. We will persevere!!

Mom stayed home today. She has her annual bronchitis. She sounds like a little seal. She is taking medicine, has a humidifier and wants to go in tomorrow. Tomorrow is our last day with Elder and sister Gish. The office is having a luncheon in their honor tomorrow and later that night at President Paul's home they are having a dinner in their honor. They actually said it was for both of us, one coming and one going, but I think it is for them.

If you haven't checked out Sarah's and Nick's blog lately, there are some great pics to catch up on.

On a sadder note, Andy Gibbons, one of Elder Gibbons' brothers passed away today. He had been very ill for some time. I know that you will join Chris and me in expressing our sympathies to the Gibbons.

Terrorism Has No Boundaries

As reported on CNN today, eight people were killed and 56 wounded when a bomb exploded on a bus in central Russia. The bombing happened at about 8 a.m. as people were traveling to work in the city of Togliatti, in the geography of the Samara Mission, one of the many Russian missions in the Area. It was a tragic event, but we were fortunate that no missionaries or members were affected.

At a time like this, one cannot help but reflect upon the principles of the gospel and how these senseless tragedies and so much of the worlds trouble would be eliminated or resolved by living them.

Halloween was quite a thud. At about 5:30 p.m. I looked out the kitchen window and saw about 8 costumed children walking down the street. I looked at Chris and asked her if she thought the Gibbons had purchased any Halloween candy. She told me to call Larry and LaDawn in Bulgaria, so I did. They got a good laugh out of our predicament, and then indicated that there were two bags of candy in pantry that they had bought just for that purpose. I put the candy in a bowl and waited...and waited. Finally, at about 8:30 p.m. we got our first two visitors and the our only visitors for the rest of the evening!!

We have four apartments to look at tomorrow. We had two to look at today, but in both cases the landlords cancelled the appointment. We look forward to better results tomorrow.

Closing the Deal...almost!

Today we had an appointment with, hopefully (?), our new landlord at 11:00 a.m., or was that 3:00 pm? Oh, I remember, our third appointment for that day was delayed until 6:30 p.m. And so it went. He negotiated himself for about 90 minutes then our attorney summarized in a sentence or two his concerns. Then we left to rewrite the agreement and will have to check out a multitude of things that are the consequence of his obdurate style. I won't bore you will all the details, but here is just one example. He took out all of the furniture from one of the living areas(he left us with a wall of cabinets, but took out the couch, endtables and the two chairs). He says, "Not to worry. I have some very nice furniture that will be here after the first of the year, that I bought in Romania!!" So much for a furnished apartment.

I am grateful for an unflapple attorney who had to listen to this man's diatribe for over an hour and a half. It is interesting how western one Russian can be and how "quaint" another is. Tomrrow, we will put on a full court press to look at some other apartments, just in case this one goes south.

We are making progress in the office. Chris and I are finding our way a little more each day. It was a bright sunny day today and it is supposed to be that way for the rest of this week. Then the Russians promise the cold weather will set in and not leave for several months.

Home Alone

This morning the Gibbons left for 10 days of duty to Bulgaria. So, we are home alone. We got to sleep in today, till 7:00 a.m.!! But we have been going to bed at 8:30 and 9:00 at night. It was our best night's sleep so far. We don't have transportation so we are resigned to Rosinka for the weekend. We have a ride to church on Sunday and to the office on Monday. We have a driver to help us move our things on Tuesday, provided we get our apartment on Monday. We have been told that we will have a high-speed internet connection installed on Nov 5. So it will be a little while before we can upload pictures.

Yesterday, I got to sit down with President Pieper and review the role of the executive secretary. I now have about 5 projects that will take some time to complete. Our first project is to organize the Interim Mission President's Seminar in February. We do have a block of sleeping rooms and the meeting rooms booked, so now we can focus on the myriad of details like food, transporation for about 50 and developing assorted conference materials.

We ate dinner last night with the Gibbons and the Peipers at the restaurant in Rosinka. President and Sister Peiper still have two daughters living with them, one 16, has special needs and the brightest smile that you have ever seen, with the exception of our grandchildren of course!!) and the other, 14, is a freshman in high school. We enjoyed our time with them, but unfortunately, President Pieper had to take his dinner in a bag and go home for an unexpected conference call.

Mom is washing clothes as I make this post. It is time for breakfast and I don't want to miss a meal, so I will close.

A Haircut in Moscow

Today, Elder Gibbons and myself got a haircut. We certainly got our money's worth!!!I costs about $20 for a haircut and they shampoo your hair. So that's about the same as we would pay in the states. I sat down and pulled my hair taut and pinched off just the amount I wanted cut. Well...let's just say that she did a good job, but that I left more than my money on the floor. I really do look like a missionary now!!

Our days in the office are quite busy, which is good. We buy our lunch every day from a little market (lots of shops) that are behind and in the basement of the building. We eat cheese, some meats (ham, bologna), fruit (fresh and dried), a yogurt, and some bread. It is quite continental. We eat in the little lunch room in our office with some of the other office staff.

Today we met Elder and Sister Price. They just got in from the states. They are serving in the area of Public Affairs. This arm of the church works as our public affairs people do in the states, but with goverment entities to a much greater extent. The government is discussed everyday in conversation with just about anyone you speak to. Elder Price served as a Mission President some 7 or 8 years ago in Vladivostok (only seven hours away) and they later served in China. I believe this is their third mission. He was a professor at BYU before his retirement.

We hope all is well with each of you.

Fore!

Yesterday, after a day in the office, Elder Gibbons treated me to 9 holes of golf at the Moscow Country Club. This was the last round before winter sets in. We had a great time. We were even after seven holes, until I triple bogeyed the eight hole to give him an insurmountable 2-stroke lead with one hole to go. On the ninth hole I hit the longest drive I have ever hit. I followed that up with an amazing 5-iron shot to the green, pin high. Elder Gibbons was just off the green. I knew I had to make my putt to tie, so I hit a solid stroke and put it just past the hole about 10 feet for an eventual three-putt and a bogey. So the two-stroke margin was maintained. I did make the putt pictured above, however, for a par 5!! It was great fun!!

Today, we should sign the papers on our apartment. We'll let you know how that goes.

Postscript: It took nearly ten people to meet to come to an agreement for the apartment. There was the landlord and his wife and his realtor and two lumpers who were moving personal items out of the apartment. Then there was Chris and I, our realtor, our attorney, our finance guy, and our office assistant who was doing most of our communicating. We finally settled, but could not come to a final agreement, because the landlord did not have his papers to prove that he was the lawful owner. So we will be back on Monday to sign the final papers.

Our landlord is a professor and a member at least, if not the head, of the Ministry of Health and Social Development for the Russian Federation. He indicated that if we rented from him, we could tell people that we rented from him, because his position is so highly esteemed...

They have a lot of cleaning and clearing out to do. We hope all will be ready by Monday. We found out that there is a security system throughout the apartment that can be monitored for about twenty US dollars per month. We will probably go with that. We also have to pay the little babuskas that sit in the security booth about 200 rubles per month. That's about 8 dollars.

Our realtor is supposed to be checking out the internet service. So hopefully, we will be in business in about a week or so.

It's Sunday

(I'm not quite sure why this post is showing up as Saturday, but it is Sunday morning in Russia. Maybe it's because it's still Saturday in the Dallas).

Yesterday was our first P-day in Russia. I spent most of the time working on banking issues. It is fantastic what you can do on the internet from so many thousands of miles away. We haven't had a lot of luck with our debit card yet. The first time I tried to use it there was a block on it. So I lifted the block and was successful in getting 2,000 rubles, the equivalent to about $80. Then I tried to use it again and it failed. I found out that I was a little too greedy. I tried to get 15,000 rubles, and found out later that my limit is 12,500 or about $500, which I can take out twice a day. So hopefully, we have that figured out now.

Last night Larry and LaDawn treated us to a nice Chineese dinner at a very swanky mall. Dallas has no mall that would compare. Highly polished marble floors and marble columns opposite each other in front of each store, stretching the entire length of each of the mall's "fingers." It looks more like the lobby of a glitsy hotel than a mall.

I ordered deep fried prawns for about the equivalent of $20.00. (We ordered so that we could share.) The only problem was that when my dish came there was only two prawns on the dish. Not bad...$10.00 a bite!! Larry graciously offered that he didn't care much for prawns. The rest of the dishes were more normal portions and it was exceptional.

We went to a gas station on our way to dinner. It was a BP station. The price was about $4.00 a galleon, not bad by European standards. You don't pump the gas yourself. You have to first go into the store and tell them how much you want, then tell the person at the pump how much you are approved for, then return to the cashier to pay. Then you tip the attendant. Russian's invented bureaucracy.

Another example. We are now registered in the city of Moscow. We now have a passport, a visa, embarcation paper and a city registration. If we leave the city for three days or more, a new registration has to be obtained. Perhaps this kind of procedure would help us with our immigration issues!!!

We made another offer on our apartment, but we haven't heard back yet. We probably won't hear until Monday. We also have a few new appointments to see apartments on Monday, as well.

Today, we visit the international branch. This is an all English speaking branch. By next Sunday, they should have us assigned to a Russian speaking branch.

Still don't have a way to post any pictures. We will, of course, just as soon as we are settled in our apartment.

Postscript; At church a sister that works at the American Embassy said that she saw an apartment posted on the bulletin board: 3 bedrooms with fireplace, at King Station (Metro stop)for $2,000. We were very excited about that proposition, until she called back later to inform us that the apartment was available in Arlington, Virginia. Talk about cruel and unsual punishment!

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!!

Missionaries Head for Russia

Just a short note to say that we are all packed. Unless the scales are off, we should make weight!!

Thought you might like to know, as they were introducing missionaries tonight that were leaving this week, that Mexico was no. 1 with about 60 and Russia was No. 2, with over 50 missionaries. No other country had more than 20. The Ukraine, the Baltics and Romania (all part of the Europe East Area) added approximately another 20 for the area. That took my breath away. Everyone that we talked to after our meetings was very surprised to see such a number going to Russia.

We hope to resurface in a couple of days. Stay tuned!!

P-Day

On Saturday we went to visit Veda at the hospital. Veda is Chris's younger sister. She was (and is) about 5 months along with her pregnancy when her water broke. Bed rest is what is needed. She is doing well. To be in the hospital for 10 weeks...well, I can't imagine. But she is grinning and bearing it. Ashleigh had her own bed and stayed with her mom Friday night. She is in first grade. She almost beat Uncle Greg in checkers when she pulled off a rare four jump move, taking two kings in the process!!! We were joined by Doug and the rest of the kids just after lunch. Doug and Veda have a dear family. We know you will join me with your prayers in their behalf.

Later, Ben took us for a drive out to Sundance Canyon. Very pretty. Beautiful fall colors. The aspens were at peak, but we missed all of the red colors that had peaked the week before. But still gorgeous, nonetheless.

We are just about completely packed and weighed. We have just a few pounds left to pack the clothes we will be wearing on Sunday. I will be wearing my boots with my suit when we go to the airport! I had to purchase a large book on Russian verbs yesterday, that put a little more pressure on our weight limits, but I think we are going to make it.

We had our best night's sleep last night. I woke up on my own at 5:30 a.m. Thought I would make this post, before I started getting ready for church.

Well, we're are now less than 24 hours before departure to the SLC airport.

Key Learnings

After a week at the MTC, and many wonderful experiences, I would like to share a little about what I have learned. One of my most profound observations is the importance of the Book of Mormon. In the introduction to the Book of Mormon, it states, “Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: ‘I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.’”

In the church, we often speak about some of the plain and precious truths that are missing from the Bible, but that are contained in their entirety in the Book of Mormon. For example, if you do a search for the word “plan” for plan of salvation, the Bible search will result in “no occurrences of the word PLAN.” If the same search is conducted in the Book of Mormon, one finds the plan of redemption, the plan of salvation, the plan of mercy, the plan of happiness, all synonyms for God’s plan for us. If one tries to obtain an understanding of the concept of the atonement, the Old Testament mentions it, mostly, in reference to sacrifices performed by priests at the alter; the New Testament mentions it once in Romans. On the other hand, consider just a few of the references to the atonement in the Book of Mormon.

Alma 34: 9 For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made.

Mosiah 3:19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

Alma 42: 15 And now, the plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also.

If one continues in Alma, a great explanation of the concepts of justice and mercy follow.

Once having read the Book of Mormon, the plan of salvation is more clearly revealed when reading the Bible. Both volumes contain the same message; the Book of Mormon is just clearer and easier to understand. The Book of Mormon is not a substitute for the Bible, it helps the earnest searcher for the truth understand some of the more obscure doctrine that is contained in the Bible. This is pretty important, since the great message of Christianity is the atonement or how it is possible to overcome sin and death through Jesus Christ.

Too often have I heard my friends say that the Bible is too difficult to understand, to archaic or outdated. If only they would read the Book of Mormon, they would see how important the Bible is and how relevant its message is in our day.

MTC Day 5

Whitney and Jonathan Snow (Greg's language instructor) Elder and Sister Monson (also going to Moscow) and Greg

We finished the last of our language tutoring tonight. The good news is that there is plenty for me to study on my own given the foundation that Jonathan was able to build. Tonight, I got to practice having a dialogue with the Monsons. That was very helpful. They speak as slowly as I do. I think we both appreciated that.

My instructor gave me a Russian 3 in 1 combination, that he had bound from other books, since this kind of volume is not currently being published by the church. It contains the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. Thanks Jonathan for your thoughtful gift.

Today was also the last official day of MTC training. Tomorrow is P-day, then Sunday, then were off. We took a group picture of all of the senior missionaries; it will be emailed to me later. The number of countries that are represented by these senior missionaries is just amazing. With a couple of exceptions, each of these couples, mostly in their 60's and 70's, are learning their destination country's language for first time. Tonight, we had a testimony meeting in which each language student bore his or her testimony in the language they are studying. I was very impressed. The grasp of the language is most impressive, given such a short time for actual study.

Tomorrow we will begin packing. We are in big trouble on our weight. I may have to wear a couple of pairs of shoes and two jackets and a hat to make weight!!

MTC Day 4

Today, we manned a call center for the church for a brief period of time in the afternoon. You all have seen the commercials for the church on TV. We were answering those calls. It was pretty quiet for a while then BOOM!, a commercial must have just run on the East Coast. In came the calls from the Mississippi River to Boston. I received a call from a newlywed in Kentucky! She requested one of the Church DVD's on Christ.

Tonight, we are going to dinner with some dear friends, the Jacobsen's. Owen and I served in a Stake Mission Presidency together over 15 years ago. Since that time he has served as a Mission President in Florida and Temple President in Dallas. He is serving as an Executive Secretary for the Stake President in Provo at this time.

The weather turned cooler, but is still bright and still. I haven't taken the pictures of the fall colors yet, but I will.

Tomorrow, we pick up our prescriptions that will last us for the next 18 months. It is also our last day of Missionary Training. Saturday is P-day (Mormon lingo for washing and ironing and other necessary preparations). Sunday is full of meetings and devotionals, then on Monday we will be in the lobby at 5:15 a.m., ready to leave for the airport. We arrive in Moscow at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The countdown has begun!!

Post Script: We just got home from the Jacobsen's. We had a wonderful dinner; a special reunion with our very special friends; we got to meet Joyce's sister Mary and husband Joe who served a mission in Australia; Scott, a returned missionary from the Ukraine; Owen and Joyce's daughter, Marcy; and Gilbert (President Paul's son) and Amy Paul, who we had met and had taken a picture of at conference. The food was delicious and the company was great. Thanks Owen and Joyce for making our time here in Provo so memorable.

Earlier, while Joyce was working up a culinary delight, Owen took us for a ride to see some fall leaves and to visit the new Hinckley Alumni Center. This beautiful building, sitting high on a hill, on the campus, was built from donations of over 70,000 people. As we were walking out of the Hinckley Center we ran into Lindsay James, the daughter of Terry and Dorris James, from our home ward.
Fall in Provo.
Greg, Chris, and Owen at the Hinckley Center.
Chris with Lindsay James at the Hinckley Center [Lindsay was participating in a Young Adult dance activity with senior citizens.]

MTC Day 3

Well, we have finished another two days of study. We start at 8:00 in the classroom and end at about 10:00 after homework and language training. There is not a minute to spare. We attended a very special devotional last night with Gerald Lund. He is a very good instructor and the music with 500 or so missionaries was fantastic.

Tonight we broke free and went to Chili's with our son Ben and left the credit card!! So we had a little bit of excitement, until we found that it was in a safe place at the restaurant. One of the senior couples lent me his car and we retrieved it. Thank goodness!!!

Still have a little studying to do yet. The weather has been fantastic. Too bad we don't have more time to enjoy it. The fall colors are spectacular. I will try to take a few pictures and post them later this week.

MTC DAY 1

This is a traditional place for missionaries to have their picture taken.

Chris and Greg with Jed Jones, son of Jay and Connie Jones, our very dear friends and members of our ward

Greg and Chris with Elder and Sister Lamoreaux, the father and mother of Deborah Thompson, another member of our ward. The Allen 2 Ward is well represented.

Just thought you might like to see that there is a lighter side to this missionary experience. One of our trainers, was teasing us with a few jokes about seniors. Here is one of my favorites: A man on the freeway gets a phone call from his wife. She says, "Honey, there is a car going the wrong way on the freeway. Be careful." To which he responds, "Oh no honey, there are hundreds of them!!"

Members of the church will know that one of the great anthems of the church is "Called to Serve," the first song we sang today. I got about half way through the first line, when the emotion of the moment seemed to steal away my voice. After the song, all of the senior couples, about 25 in our group, introduced themselves and indicated what part of the world they were headed. Besides two couples going to Moscow, there was Mongolia, Nigeria, and The Congo to mention a few. For those of us leaving the United States (about half of the group), the first hour of training was on health and sanitation!! A little more scary for those going to the Congo than Moscow, but sobering, nonetheless!

Food and accommodations are excellent. Wireless internet to boot!! (Though the signal could be a little stronger, from time to time.)

I had my first Russian lesson since last Wednesday and without much study time I was really rusty. But I am back in the saddle and hope to do better on Wednesday.

Conference: Day 2

Pictured above with us are Gil and Debbi Kirk, our temple buddies from Dallas. It has been a real treat to spend the weekend together with them.

Ben and I attended the first session. Chris watched on TV. Then Chris joined me later for the second session. We had first row seats for our section. We were about the same distance from the stand as one would be if he or she were in the last row of a chapel.

I received a call from Allen Stephens, a former Allen 2 Ward member, now living in the Salt Lake City area. Allen and I served together in the Young Men's Organization. He was the scoutmaster and I was an assistant Deacon's Quorum Advisor. Two of his boys were in the priest quorum when I was Young Men's President. Jeff, the oldest, is an attorney, having completed his law degree at Harvard University. Brad, the next oldest son, is currently attending Pepperdine's School of Law. Two great young men, both having joined me on a 450-mile charity bicycle trek that took us from Texas to Arkansas to Oklahoma and back to Texas. This little adventure was my son's Eagle Scout project. Our priests earned $1500 in contributions for a local community outreach organization. I really appreciate Alan reaching out and giving us a few words of encouragement and getting a little bit of an update on his family.

We took a quick tour through the newly restored Tabernacle on Temple Square. We then capped off the day with dinner at PF Changs with Ben and the Kirk's. We had a wonderful meal and some great dinner conversation. As a result, Debbi and Gil have committed to read Les Miserable before we get back. They will love it. I can't wait to get their report. An added bonus is that Debbi is a history buff, so we will have lots of opportunity to share some good books in the future.

Now its time to pack up. We have to be ready to leave tomorrow at 6:50 AM to take the shuttle to the MTC in Provo.

Some have asked for our phone number while we will be in Moscow. I have posted it on the left margin of the blog, under Contact Us. Treat this number as if we were in Dallas. If you have unlimited domestic long distance, then there will be no charge. This should be up and running in a couple of weeks.

The 177 Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: Day 1

Pictured above is Chris as we were entering the Church Conference Center with the Salt Lake Temple in the background. It was cool, but comfortable, with light rain on and off throughout the day.

How special it was to be in the first session and to sustain Henry B. Eyring as the second counselor in the First Presidency of the Church and Quentin L. Cook as an Apostle to replace Eyring. Elder Faust, who previously served as second counselor in the First Presidency, passed away a couple of months ago. He will be missed.

I won't comment on the talks at this time, but for Chris and I they were very uplifting. I will comment on the opening prayer, which asked for a blessings on the missionaries throughout the world. I took me a minute or so to realize that he was praying for Chris and me!!

After the first session, are friends Gil and Debbie Kirk picked us up on the corner and we fled the crowds to get lunch. Getting back, we got caught in traffic. We dropped off Chris and Debbie and Gil and I spent 20 minutes looking for a parking space. We were 20 minutes late according to rules (you're supposed to be in your seats 30 minutes before the telecast begins), but they let us in anyway.

Matt Godfrey, who had been in the priest quorum when I was the Young Men's President, probably 9 years ago, called to me just as I was being rushed through the doors. He thought I didn't remember him, because his name did not come immediately to my mind (if he only knew), so he introduced himself. I told him that, of course, I remembered him, and that I still had the candlesticks that he had willed to me when he graduated as a senior from high school. When I mentioned the candlesticks there was a twinkle in his eye. He knew that I had not forgotten him. The brass candelsticks were to represent the silver candlesticks that Jean Valjean had stolen from the bishop, in the novel Les Miserables. That being my favorite book of fiction, and the senior lit class reading assignment (Albeit, the dumbed-down version, approx 300 pages vs. the 1200 page classic version), I drew many lessons from this wonderful story to teach them about the principles of the gospel. I used to love to tell them stories that weren't in their version of the book. For example, first, I would ask them what page they were on and then I might ask, "Did you get to the part where they buried Jean Valjean alive?!," knowing full well that this would be one of the many eviscerations in the abridged version. I wanted them to understand how much of the good parts of the book they were missing; hoping that someday they might want to read the classic version!!

Lucky for us, Harvey and Rebecca Carter had seats in the same section as we did, so they saved two seats for us. It was good to see Harvey. He and Rebecca seemed to be very happy. We met Rebecca's two son's, one who had just returned from Boliva on his mission.

The second session was every bit as good as the first, but with a little more drama. Joseph Wirthlin, an Apostle, encumbered with the infirmities of old age, started to shake uncontrollably, but moderately, and then seemed to have a shortness of breath. It didn't take long for the other Apostles, who were sitting in close proximity, to notice he was having difficulty. In an instant, Russel M. Nelson, an Apostle, and retired heart surgeon, was at his side to steady him. Despite these difficulties, Elder Wirthlin did not missed a step and gave no indication that he even knew that Elder Nelson was at his side. The remainder of his talk seemed to last an eternity, as the entire audience held its breath until he had finished. We just knew that he would or that he would expire trying. There is a scripture that talks about wasting and wearing out our lives for the gospel. He was showing us just what that scripture meant.

I must say that the majesty of Elder Nelson standing tall and erect and looking quite youthful (he is 83 years old), assisting his brother, this elderly servant of the Lord, in such a loving and inconspicuous manner, was not lost on the audience. We love the way these men love and care for one another.

After the second session was over, the ladies headed for the hotel and Gil and I were joined by my son Ben and we attended the Priesthood session. Stan Martin and his son Jason came down to where we were seated and we introduced our sons to each other. (I may have indicated this on another post, but Stan's Jason was named after my oldest son Jason.) Then we went to dinner for some really good Italian food.

Ben will pick me up tomorrow for the first session on Sunday. Chris will watch the broadcast from our room.

When we got back to room, there was a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies and a very heart felt message from Stan about our reunion last night. This is a card that I will keep and cherish.

Family and friends, don't worry about us. We are in God's hands. As you can see, he is taking care of us now and will continue to do so while we are in Moscow.

And what added more to his joy...

In the Book of Mormon, Alma and the four sons of Mosiah have a miraculous conversion and desire to be sent as missionaries to teach the gospel to a hostile nation of people. They labor for 14 years, with much success and many trials, before they are finally united.

Alma 17:1,2

...as Alma was journeying from the land of Gideon southward, away to the land of Manti, behold, to his astonishment, he met with the sons of Mosiah journeying towards the land of Zarahemla.
...and what added more to his [Alma's] joy, they [the sons of Mosiah] were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.

This is the joy that I felt Friday night when I was reunited with my missionary, over 30 years later. What a joy it was to find that Elder Stan Martin and his wife Jewel had also waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth. They were still my brother and sister in the Lord.

It was an amazing moment when I walked up to their table and Stan looked up and greeted me immediately by my name. It was as though a day had not passed since the last time we met. This is one of the great blessings of the gospel. It knits you together in a way that nothing else can.

We spent 3 hours together. It was not enough. I so thoroughly enjoyed their sweet spirit and to learn about their family and their experiences. Most recently, Bishop Martin, was released after serving for the past five years. I am sure he was a wonderful bishop. We will see each other again, tomorrow night, at the priesthood session of General Conference. I was able to get an extra priesthood session ticket for Ben (my son who lives in Salt Lake City), so he will get to meet Stan, as well.


Our trip to Salt Lake City was perfect; all of our luggage made weight; our new luggage came (unkown to us) with special built-in TSA locks that allow you to lock your suit cases; the flight was on time (actually early);the gate was available; we were able to get exit row seats; the luggage was at the carousel by the time we got there; the wait for the van going to the hotel was less than 5 minutes; our room was ready when we arrived.

Next, we had lunch with Ben at the Lion House and then met with President and Sister Gibbons to look at a few Russian apartments on the internet. We are making some progress, but nothing is final at this point.

On the eve of our departure, Thursday night, we had most of the kids and grandkids gathered together, except for Ben, of course, and Nick who was working in Arkansas. However, Chris was more than a little surprised when Nick's daughter, Lore, toddled into the kitchen from the laundry room followed by her mother, Abby. Jason and Emily were able to make it, but mom (Joy) had to stay home to care for Courtney and Ashley who were still under the weather. [Later that evening Jason and I gave Courtney a blessing.] The gathering was a time to share our feelings about each other and how we feel about the gospel. As you can imagine there were some very special moments. Everyone participated, from Eden to Grandpa. It was a very special send-off.

It's Official: We Are Fulltime Missionaries

This afternoon, we were set apart as fulltime missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by our Stake President, Gordon Wright. It was a sublime affair. Many in our family were there to participate in the setting apart. Jessica and Billy and family, Sarah (Eden and Max stayed home with Armando), Bill and Sandra and Arthur, Dorothy and Zack attended. Jason and family stayed home, as they were not feeling well (Get well soon.) President Wright impressed upon us the nature of what was actually happening. An assignment, determined before this world was, is ours to labor in Russia. There is a work for us to do. We are on the Lord's errand.

This is not new doctrine, but the gravity of his message seemed to mean more to me today, as one being set apart as a fulltime missionary, than any other calling that I have received in the past. I believe that feeling comes from recognizing that this calling requires leaving as much of the world behind as we possibly can and focusing all of our energies on building the kingdom of God. We believe these callings are from God and that these callings were determined before this world was created. It is now up to us to determine, through personal revelation, God's will and how we might be able to move this great work forward with the assignments that we are given.

On a lighter note, I called Jewel Martin, the wife of the missionary who baptised me in 1974 to confirm our dinner appointment for Friday night and to see if her husband Stan was suspecting anything. She told me that he had tried to schedule another activity for the same time, and was curious as to why "this date" with his wife couldn't be changed. Finally, his daughter, with whom her mother had confided, said something to the effect, "Dad, If you don't go with mom on Friday night, you will regret it for the rest of your life!!" I am not sure if it is that important...but I like her spirit!!

So, we are left with a few tasks to complete. I have a list of twenty items and I am sure that Chris' list is about the same. We have been invited to dinner Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (and one more hour of racketball with Jason and Zack!) and the entire family is invited to meet with us Thursday night before we leave. So, you may not hear from us for a few days. We fly to Salt Lake City on Friday morning.