Hello to all our favorite people;

I have a LOT of catching up to do! We have had quite the month and I have been very lax in getting my letters written, so I’m going to start from the first of September and quickly (haha) tell you about all we have done.

September 1st started off the month being our daughter Mandee’s birthday. The next day was Kims and the month continued on with a family birthday or two every week. So, happy birthday to everyone one of you (even beyond our own immediate family) who celebrated your birthdays in September - Mandee, Kim, Jen, Cayden, Me, Cruz, Kory, Braxton, and especially to our newest grandbaby, Roan (along with his cousin Tovah). We love you all so very much. It’s always so hard to be away at these special times, especially births, but our hearts are always with you!!!

The first week of September we had our Humanitarian Couples Conference in Istanbul, Turkey. I’ve already told you all about that wonderful experience so I won’t repeat that. You can go back to my Sept. 12th letter to read about it. A definite highlight of our mission.

The second week was the only week this month that we were actually home. We had meetings, dinners, and FHE with the missionaries, members and investigators and celebrated “Voronezh Day” at an airshow and then fireworks. The highlight of the week was the birth of two very special little babies in our family. First, on Sept. 13, my sister Pam had her first grandchild. Little Tova Teuila Auva’a was born to Teresa and Tui Auva’a. She’s beautiful and we love her already. The labor and delivery were a little long but I’m sure it was because she was having a hard time saying goodbye to her best friend and new little cousin Roan Bennett McHenry who was born the very next day. Roan is the fourth child of our daughter Shanda and Kory and he is our 28th grandchild. It’s torture to be so far away for a birth, but we are thrilled to have him here and can’t wait to meet them both. (I haven’t yet figured out how to transfer pictures from fb to Picasa so when I learn that I’ll be able to put pictures that I haven’t taken myself onto this letter). Just believe me that our two new babies are beautiful!

The next week we went to the closing for one of our Humanitarian Projects. We supplied a dental room for a clinic out in a village just outside of Voronezh. It’s a very poor clinic with extremely outdated equipment, most of which doesn’t even work, and they were so, so happy to get this new dental equipment. They treated us like we were royalty with praise and appreciation and a lunch. It’s such a gratifying feeling to know we can help in such a small way but it makes a world of difference to them. We LOVE this part of the work!

The next day we left for St. Petersburg to meet with the Humanitarian Couple there to begin the Employment Program in that mission. We met with the new mission president, President N. Warren Clark and his wife, who are wonderful and will be a great asset to that mission. President Clark is extremely excited about how the philosophy of the employment program can help not only the members but his missionaries as well. The last two days we spent laughing, eating and sightseeing with the Hazlewoods and had a wonderful time.

Saint Petersburg is so full of history and beautiful buildings and churches. We could only see a few places in two days, but what we saw was stunning. I would love to go back to see more and I love reading about the history of that place. St. Petersburg is where the very first member of the Church in Russia lived and in 1903 the Apostle Frances M. Lyman gave a dedicatory prayer in the Summer Gardens and petitioned the Lord to soften the hearts of the people and allow the Gospel to be taught in that land. The book “The Silence of God” is the story of that first LDS family and the struggles they had being the only members in a communist country. Great book!

I just can’t think of a better place to serve a mission where there is so much history, beauty and wonder. We have heard that only 17% of the senior couples who are called to Russia accept, the rest are too afraid to come here. I don’t know if that figure is right, but that makes me sad. It’s only our ignorance that makes us afraid because this is an amazing place. I’m grateful that my initial fear didn’t keep us away because we will never be able to duplicate this experience again. Yes it’s hard, and cold, and tough to do missionary work, and people don’t always smile, and walking everywhere and carrying groceries is a pain, but the people we serve and those who accept the Gospel into their lives have a light in them that makes it all worth it. We love all that we are doing here.

The last week we spent back in Moscow meeting two new couples who have come to join our ranks. Elder and Sister South have come to be our immediate “bosses” and will be the new Area Welfare Specialists. The Pattersons will be going home in a few weeks and we will miss them. Elder and Sister Bice will be the first missionary couple to serve as Family Services Specialists outside of North America. They are coming here to “blaze a trail” for drug and alcohol addiction and strengthening marriage and family services for members of the Church in the Europe East Area. We are so excited to be working with both of them.

In a few months the last two Humanitarian couples serving here in Russia will be going home and that will leave us as the ONLY Humanitarian Couple in Russia. There will be no more humanitarian couple missionaries assigned here, only the one couple as Country Director in each country. That means that our responsibilities will multiply greatly when they leave. The Area Presidency is making many changes to the way the Welfare Program will work here and we are continually learning to do things in new ways. It’s always an adventure.

Along with our small area projects, wheelchairs, employment and Country Directorness, we have now been asked to be in charge of the NRT (Neonatal Resuscitation Training) program in Russia. There is a doctor and his wife from Utah who come to Russia several times a year to teach doctors and nurses here how to resuscitate new-born babies. We have three of those trainings scheduled that we are in charge of coordinating and organizing. One in Vyborg (St. Petersburg), one in Volgograd, and the third in Yekateringburg. A lot of traveling but I’m super excited to be involved with this. I have never resuscitated a baby, not even a manikin, so I’m looking forward to the training as well.

We got home Friday night from Moscow and I had our taxi driver drop me off at the theatre so I could attend a ballet with the Sister Missionaries. It wasn’t quite as spectacular as Swan Lake at the Balshoi Theatre in Moscow, but it was beautiful and we had a great time. It was about the Arabian Nights (I think).

This was quite a lengthy letter and covered most of the month, but I didn’t tell you about my fun birthday with the missionaries or our District (Stake) Conference with the Woolleys and the Area Seventy. I’ll do that another time. I’m telling you, you just can’t beat this missionary experience. We sleep in a different bed every week and have a crazy eating schedule, but we are loving life! It looks like we might be home for a few weeks, but then the BIG traveling begins with NRT. I’ll keep you informed.

As always, we love all of you so very much and miss you! Thank you for keeping us in your prayers and thoughts, we do the same for you. These are the last days and missionary work is so vital. Keep that in mind as you live each day and be an example for those around you. We love you!

The Frosts