Remembering...
Stake Conference for Western Russia--more than just St. Petersburg--was held Saturday night and Sunday morning September 9 and 10. The two sessions were led by President Boris Leostrin, presided over by President James Martino, with participation of President Brent Rawson.
In the Saturday evening session, President Martino spoke about his conversion when he was a teen, and he invited all of the teenagers to come to the rostrum. He asked each to speak to a question he asked of them. They were inspirational. The future of the Church in Russia will be in good hands.
Meetings were broadcast to several congregations throughout Western Russia on a closed circuit Internet connection.
It was an incredible Stake Conference. The Stake choir sang. Sister Allen joined the choir, which had rehearsed for many hours under the director of a gifted conductor. Stake President Leostrin spoke about the importance of carrying a spiritual umbrella. He said that the people of St. Petersburg always carry their umbrellas, because it rains nearly every day. We need to carry a spiritual umbrella to protect us from the evils raining down all around in the world. Mission President Rawson spoke of miracles he had experienced, and so did our visiting General Authority, European East Area President James Martino. They invited all present to reach out to friends in their circles to share the love.
A spiritual thought from Elder Ken Allen:
The Early Adventures of Lehi (1 Nephi 4)
Our Week of Nonadventures
President and Sister Rawson were gone this week to the Mission President's semiannual seminar, this time in Georgia on the Black Sea. (Sunny, 90 degrees and humid.) Back in the Mission Office, the only excitement of the week was the visit of a work crew with a crane to take down the old smokestack from the old neighborhood heating plant next door to the Stake Center building.
But there was work to do. Someone way up the chain of command from us decided that all of us in the offices throughout the Church should not be sharing a login to one Google Drive account for all our shared files. Instead we should each have an individual account and use Microsoft's OneDrive for Business through the LDS Church accounts. So Sister Sue got to spend a big chunk of time this week making accounts for everyone, sharing each other's root files, and making instructions so that the Mission President, Elder Ken, the Officeniki, and the Assistants to the President could each convert their own files from G-drive to OneDrive. We had a few hitches, but it seems to be working now. OneDrive just isn't as user-friendly as G-drive. But we comply for security's sake. And it was a good incentive for everyone to go through their G-drive files and clean out old stuff.
With nothing much else happening during the week, we decided to visit the dead. Across the river about 3 kilometers from our apartment is the Alexander Nevsky Lavra (High Monastery) with neighboring grounds and an interesting cemetery. Prince Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod is the patron saint of St. Petersburg, honored for his success in routing the Swedes from Western Russia in the 13th Century, particularly in a battle near this site in 1240. The monastery, situated at the end of Nevsky Avenue, the main road to the Winter Palace at the Hermitage, was founded in 1710 by Peter the Great. It is the most important Russian Orthodox monastery in St. Petersburg.
The cathedral is the resting place of relics of Saint Alexander Nevsky. It is filled with marvelous sacred icons and familiar paintings of sacred events surrounding the birth and crucifixion of Christ. Worshippers give homage before the icons and relics. There is even a Prayer Roll.
Tourist photographs are not permitted inside the cathedral, but we witnessed a christening at the altar. We are glad to see that such events are still occurring. Sue smiled that there was a sign on the door coming in advising women to not approach the altar in slacks or shorts, and men should also not wear shorts and should remove their hats. There was also a supply of scarves near the door for women to borrow to cover their heads inside. Mormons aren't the only ones who still dress up for church!
The grounds were the cemeteries of the famous and prestigious.
Last spring, we joined in a service project to help clean up the grounds outside this cemetery. Finally we got to see the inside. Here is a photo of the inside of the wall we worked along.
We got a bit wet in the rainstorm during our walk home. A bit? Sister Sue was soaked to the knees and through her jacket and sweater down to the T-shirt underneath!
We were glad to come home to a cup of hot chicken soup.
Stake Conference for Western Russia--more than just St. Petersburg--was held Saturday night and Sunday morning September 9 and 10. The two sessions were led by President Boris Leostrin, presided over by President James Martino, with participation of President Brent Rawson.
In the Saturday evening session, President Martino spoke about his conversion when he was a teen, and he invited all of the teenagers to come to the rostrum. He asked each to speak to a question he asked of them. They were inspirational. The future of the Church in Russia will be in good hands.
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| President Martino with a young high school student Saturday evening |
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| Saints gathering Sunday morning from all around St. Petersburg |
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| Sunday morning broadcast setup |
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| Singing the opening song |
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| President Rawson speaking through a translator with the choir sitting behind |
A spiritual thought from Elder Ken Allen:
In exploring the theme of efforts to come to Christ, President Martino spoke about the efforts of the sons of Lehi to be obedient. I was reminded of my own recounting of these very events that I had promised to share earlier, so, following up to my previous post (August 27) about Chapter 3 of First Nephi, here is a link to my recounting of that very episode:
The Early Adventures of Lehi (1 Nephi 4)
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Our Week of Nonadventures
President and Sister Rawson were gone this week to the Mission President's semiannual seminar, this time in Georgia on the Black Sea. (Sunny, 90 degrees and humid.) Back in the Mission Office, the only excitement of the week was the visit of a work crew with a crane to take down the old smokestack from the old neighborhood heating plant next door to the Stake Center building.
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| The Stake Center is on the left. (Elder Allen's office windows are on the first floor.) |
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| Friday night date night dinner out at "Mama Roma" (Мама Рома in Russian) |
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| Alexander Nevsky Monastery |
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| Alexander Nevsky Monastery and Cathedral |
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| Alexander Nevsky Monastery and Cathedral |
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| Inside Nevsky Cathedral (courtesy of Pinterest) |
The grounds were the cemeteries of the famous and prestigious.
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| Dostoyevsky |
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| Rimsky-Korsakov |
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| Mussorgsky |
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| On Mussorgsky's headstone |
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| Borodin |
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| Tchaikovsky |
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| Anton Rubenstein |
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| Petipa, the great ballet choreographer |
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| Genuine red rose archway |
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| Leonhard Euler 1707-1783, prolific Swiss mathematician and physicist, founder of modern mathematics notation and discoverer of the identity (eiπ + 1 = 0) Euler was the most published mathematician of all time. |
Last spring, we joined in a service project to help clean up the grounds outside this cemetery. Finally we got to see the inside. Here is a photo of the inside of the wall we worked along.
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| Site of the LDS church service project last spring, just outside this wall |
We got a bit wet in the rainstorm during our walk home. A bit? Sister Sue was soaked to the knees and through her jacket and sweater down to the T-shirt underneath!
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| Sue in soggy shoes and soaked to the knees |
Such a prestigious cemetery! You can almost hear the swells of gorgeous music flowing out of those graves. We also have a church in Jerusalem named for Alexander Nevsky. I will forward some photos from inside. The Jerusalem church is beautiful, though nothing closely resembles your Pinterest shot.
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