Long Days

Hello everyone, I know you haven't heard from me for a while. It's been two weeks since my last letter and so much has happened. I don't even know were to start. It seems like we have been on the road for the last month and to tell you the truth - I'm so tired! But, it's time to write and let you know that we are still here and are doing great. Last time I wrote, Norm was just coming back from Moscow, and we were still living with no hot water. Since then, we have been back to Moscow twice, and back to Kiev for our second Visa trip, still with no hot water. I know I shouldn't complain about it, but it's just such a pain. So, our first trip back to Moscow was for the organization of the first Stake in Moscow. Finally, there are enough members, especially worthy Priesthood holders, to form a Stake. This has been a long time in the works and it was so exciting to be there and to be a part of it. Elder Nelson and his wife were there, along with Elder Nelson's youngest son who was one of the first missionaries sent to proselyte in Russia. He actually served here in Voronezh and attended Church at the building that we are in now, so it made sense that Elder Nelson came here to dedicate this Chapel in 2009. Elder Nelson talked for two days about his experiences here in Russia that started back in the 1970's. He's been working with Russian officials for many many years trying to get them to allow the Church to be recognized here as a legal entity. He had some very frustrating and some very funny stories to tell about his years of visits here. It's been a long, hard fought battle, but it's done and the Church is slowly growing bigger and bigger here. Aside from the Branches, and now Wards in Moscow, our Branch here in Voronezh is one of the largest. We are so lucky to be living and serving here. Some of our missionaries are serving in Branches with only 5 or 10 or maybe 20 members. I think that would be much harder for me and we are spoiled here because we have a full functioning Branch so our missionaries don't have to run the Branch. We have great Priesthood leadership and wonderful members who actually do their callings. One of the areas of our mission has a missionary as the Branch President and 5 teenage girls are the only members. Isn't that interesting? I'm not really sure how that all works but I'm sure "it's all good". Four of the missionaries in our mission serve as Branch Presidents where there are few members and little to no Priesthood holders. We're working hard to keep these Branches growing, especially with men, so our missionaries can do more missionary work and less Branch work. Keep praying for us, one day we'll get there. Anyway, the meetings with Elder Nelson were wonderful and over 1000 people were in attendance in a rented hall in Moscow. It was a great blessing for us to be there. There is one side note to all this. Now that there is a Stake formed they are blessed to have their own patriarch in Moscow. That means that people can get their patriarchal blessings quickly instead of having to wait for years for a floating patriarch to come to town. That is a huge blessing. Four days later (still no hot water) we went back to Kiev for our second Visa trip. We were only gone for two days and most of that time was spent sitting in airports waiting for connecting flights, but we were able to attend a session at the Kiev Temple. It was fun because we ran into our Branch President and his wife there, and Dima who is our boss over our humanitarian work. We had no idea any of them would be there so that was a nice surprise. The next morning as we were leaving our hotel we ran into Elder Dennis Neuenschwander (recently called patriarch in our mission) who was there for some family history meetings with other missionaries. We didn't get to visit long but it was nice to see him again. When we got back home - we had HOT water!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!! I'm not looking forward to that experience again any too soon. Two days after we got back we went on a long road trip. It was a 12 hour day of riding in a small car with five people, visiting 5 different organizations for humanitarian projects, eating at each stop, having one last big meal at a restuarant and then heading back for another 2 1/2 hour drive home. Ohhhh, long day. BUT - it was fun and very productive. We found five very worthy projects and met some wonderful people. It really is the fun part of the job. The paperwork afterward is not so fun but Norm does all that so I don't have much to complain about. We have transfers this next week which is always traumatic for me. I hate saying goodbye to our missionaries. Our zone leader, Elder Harrison, is going home (back to Oklahoma)and we will really miss him. We don't know yet what other changes there will be but, "we shall prevail"! I think one reason I'm so tired is because we have the longest days ever here right now. It gets dark at about 11:30 at night and then the sun is up with bright daylight at 4:00 in the morning. Long days, short nights. But the weather is beautiful, getting warmer but not too hot yet. Love it! The flowers are growing, no one waters the grass so it is dying everywhere, but I still love it. It's absolutely beautiful country. Well, that's my report. All is well in Russia. The Church is true! The saints are strong! Missionary work is awesome! And we are happy little campers. Hope you are all doing well. We love you, we think about you often and pray for you daily. Keep the prayers coming our way. We love you! Mom, Michele or Elder and Sister Frost (whatever works!)