This week the Area President, James Martino, came from Moscow to visit the St. Petersburg Mission. He took the opportunity to address the volunteers in person at the Stake Center and via video conference to those throughout the Mission. That TV screen in the background had five windows open for those watching and listening in Kaliningrad, Pskov, Vyborg, Petrozavodsk and Novgorod. There is a camera on top so they can see Elder Martino and others. The little silver square on the table in the front is the microphone. It all worked great! This was our 'trial run' for Stake Conference in September. Everyone in the Stake and also the Mission Branches will be able to watch Stake Conference from their home ward/branch building if they don't live within an hour or two of the Stake Center in Saint Petersburg. We love modern communication!
This photo was taken in the Relief Society room at the Stake Center. Aren't those windows wonderful? They are hinged in the middle and swing together from the outside. They can be opened for air, which is nice. It's a great room.
And Sue has been particularly grateful for long-distance communication this week. Her mom (age 91 in September) fell while getting into bed last week. She broke four ribs and was in the hospital for a few days. She's now in a rehab center for a bit, but is doing really well! Sue has been able to do video chat with her every day and keep up with the news. Sue's sisters, Carol and Louise, both live close to Mom and are taking good care of her, so that is a blessing.
Progress report on the garden on Allen's balcony in St. Petersburg. Twelve tomatoes as of August 15.
It's transfer week! And time to reorganize the Mission. Here are two new sisters, just arrived from the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. They did eight weeks of intensive Russian. We are jealous.
But there is a little interesting personal back story: Jack Welch served in Germany as a missionary at the same time that Ken served. In fact they were in the Language Training Mission at the same time in the summer of 1966. While Ken was learning German, Jack, who already spoke German, was memorizing King Benjamin's speech from the Book of Mosiah in the German Book of Mormon. Jack headed off to Munich, Germany, well ahead of the rest of his group.
The very passage in Mosiah 2 that he memorized was where, a year later, he made the literary discovery that would become his life's work and shape future Book of Mormon scholarship. In 1969 he published his paper in an academic journal. However, beforehand he asked his younger brother Jim for some help proofreading the draft. Jim and Jack grew up with Sue and family in La Cañada, California, and Sue went to BYU with them. So Jim got Sue involved with the proofreading project. Ken was dating Sue at the time and remembers watching Jim and Sue as they worked over the paper together in the BYU library.
August 16, 2006 is an important day to us. Sue and Ken ended their first mission together, having served for nineteen months in the Germany Hamburg Mission where they were hosts at the Institute Outreach Center for Young Single Adults in Hamburg, Germany and Kiel, Germany.
And then we came home to cook dinner for our usual Saturday night guests. We almost always invite one companionship from the area and ask them to bring a friend or two. (But we forgot to take a picture!) This week we had the two Assistants to President Rawson. We served macroni and cheese (a Ken favorite), wurst and and a fabulous home-made lemon meringe pie. The APs brought Alexy. He's a wonderful man who joined the LDS Church about 20 years ago. He said his grandmother was a believer in Christ all during the Communist era and taught him when he was young. When he spotted the Elders on the street one day he sought them out despite his father's misguided warning to avoid them or he would get dragged off to America. (Hardly!) He found a spiritual home in the Church but he stopped attending Church for a time when he got too busy with work. He came back a couple of years ago because he missed the spiritual support in his life. We so enjoyed getting to know him, learning from him and feeling of his spirit.
This photo was taken in the Relief Society room at the Stake Center. Aren't those windows wonderful? They are hinged in the middle and swing together from the outside. They can be opened for air, which is nice. It's a great room.
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| St. Petersburg volunteers meeting with Area President James Martino |
Progress report on the garden on Allen's balcony in St. Petersburg. Twelve tomatoes as of August 15.
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| All us Californians! Sister Rebecca Bettinger from Los Altos and Sister Madison Nestripke from Rescue (near Sacramento) |
The entire Mission (except for three senior couples) came to St. Petersburg for the big transfer of August 16.
Our mission is now 40% Sisters!
Our departing Assistant to the President, Peter DeVol, is gifted in the Russian language. He is returning to Minnesota and then attending BYU Idaho.
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| Elder Peter DeVol with Elder & Sister Allen |
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August 16 marks the 50th anniversary of an important event in Book of Mormon academic scholarship, the discovery by a young Mormon missionary of an ancient complex Hebrew literary style in the Book of Mormon known as chiasmus. It is a style also found in the Bible and other ancient literature but virtually unknown in the Western World, particularly at the time of the publication of the Book of Mormon in 1829. The style involves text inversion in which concepts are repeated in a form that provides emphasis of themes and aids in memory. It is a style that survives translation in the Book of Mormon. In fact, it was first discovered in the German translation of the book. Here is the story of its discovery by young Jack Welch (now a BYU law professor) with links to related materials for those who are interested in the subject and its implications: bit.ly/knowhy353.But there is a little interesting personal back story: Jack Welch served in Germany as a missionary at the same time that Ken served. In fact they were in the Language Training Mission at the same time in the summer of 1966. While Ken was learning German, Jack, who already spoke German, was memorizing King Benjamin's speech from the Book of Mosiah in the German Book of Mormon. Jack headed off to Munich, Germany, well ahead of the rest of his group.
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| King Benjamin's speech, Mosiah Chapter 2 |
The very passage in Mosiah 2 that he memorized was where, a year later, he made the literary discovery that would become his life's work and shape future Book of Mormon scholarship. In 1969 he published his paper in an academic journal. However, beforehand he asked his younger brother Jim for some help proofreading the draft. Jim and Jack grew up with Sue and family in La Cañada, California, and Sue went to BYU with them. So Jim got Sue involved with the proofreading project. Ken was dating Sue at the time and remembers watching Jim and Sue as they worked over the paper together in the BYU library.
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August 16, 2006 is an important day to us. Sue and Ken ended their first mission together, having served for nineteen months in the Germany Hamburg Mission where they were hosts at the Institute Outreach Center for Young Single Adults in Hamburg, Germany and Kiel, Germany.
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| Institute-Outreach-Center at the LDS Stake Center, Hamburg, Germany |
This is Sue, needing to write in first person. We didn't go to volunteer at the Hermitage on Friday this week. Because of Transfers, our District meeting was bumped from Thursday to Friday and President Rawson came to visit and also do interviews. But, it was a meaningful time. Sister Eaton taught the lesson and asked us all what we remembered about our baptism day. For me that was 60 years ago and I don't remember much. But then she asked "What does your baptism mean to you now?" I thought just a minute and then realized it means everything. That covenant made as an 8-year old has totally defined my life. It's given me Ken and a wonderful family. It's given me the direction to serve others as my way of emulating Jesus Christ who serves us all eternally. I'm not perfect, as He is, but I hope I'm on the path to where He wants me to be.
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Maria, longtime friend to members in the Shuvalovo Ward, came to our place for dinner two weeks ago Saturday. Last Sunday she announced that she wanted to join the church. This Saturday she was joined by many friends who witnessed her baptism.
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| Shuvalovo Ward attends Maria's Baptism, 19 August 2017 |
There was a lot of love and joy in this sacred moment.
And then we came home to cook dinner for our usual Saturday night guests. We almost always invite one companionship from the area and ask them to bring a friend or two. (But we forgot to take a picture!) This week we had the two Assistants to President Rawson. We served macroni and cheese (a Ken favorite), wurst and and a fabulous home-made lemon meringe pie. The APs brought Alexy. He's a wonderful man who joined the LDS Church about 20 years ago. He said his grandmother was a believer in Christ all during the Communist era and taught him when he was young. When he spotted the Elders on the street one day he sought them out despite his father's misguided warning to avoid them or he would get dragged off to America. (Hardly!) He found a spiritual home in the Church but he stopped attending Church for a time when he got too busy with work. He came back a couple of years ago because he missed the spiritual support in his life. We so enjoyed getting to know him, learning from him and feeling of his spirit.
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