Indian Summer

Not many photos this week, but the scene outside our church window is spectacular. We've had beautiful sunny, relatively warm weather all week--high 50's. Even up to 66F one day! We wouldn't care if this never changed. Wishful thinking... It's now dark when we get up in the morning and almost dark when we leave the office.  

Here is Sister Galena Efimova leaving the office. It's hard to believe this is the middle of a big city.

Reading the Book of Mormon. 

The Prophet's challenge is to read the entire book by the end of the year, so we are picking up the pace. Ken has read far beyond his last commentary, so he is ending 2 Nephi with these few observations and continuing his reading with a bit less pondering but just as much seriousness. Here are his last thoughts on the books of Nephi.

The story of the newest convert is a tribute to the power of the Book of Mormon as a tool of the Lord. Arina was invited to read the Book of Mormon. She did. She discovered its powerful and unsurpassed testimony of Jesus Christ, the Savior, and immediately gained her own powerful testimony. The next time she met with the Sisters for a lesson, she shared her new-found testimony and passion and excitement. She pulled out her calendar and set her own baptism date and asked what she needed to do to prepare for that big day. The Sisters were of course delighted and immediately began her final preparation. Arena called Elder McOmber and asked him to baptize her. That day, last Saturday, came. 

Elder McOmber, Sister Anania-Matafai, Arina, Sister Nestripke

She was so excited she was beaming like a teeny-bopper meeting her favorite star. Of course, this occasion was much more sedate but just as exciting. Her new ward is Shuvalovo, and many volunteers gathered for a photo in front of the baptismal font at the Stake Center.

Arena's baptism 13 Oct 2018
Elder Packer, Nikokai, Elder D. Jensen, Elder Meek, Sister Rawson, Elder Thieme,
Pres. Rawson, Elder Cummings, Elder McOmber, Arena,
Sisters Nestripke, Drake, Anania-Matafai, Gursch,
 Elder Dunn, __, Elder Herrod, Sister & Elder Peck 

Elder Cummings, Boris, Elder Packer, The Allens

We had our usual Monday night dinner, and were glad to welcome Boris to our home. His mother and sister met two volunteer Sisters on the bus in Yekaterinburg in July. That's 2000+ km (1250mi) east of here in the Ural mountains. The family became interested in our Church, but then Boris moved to St. Petersburg in September to start at the University here. He's been meeting with Elders Cummings and Packer.




Monday morning Sue had her big adventure for the week. She went to "Metro Cash and Carry" with President and Sister Rawson. Yes, that's really the name of the store, in English! Think Costco. She had six big grocery bags full. Another 5-kg box of chocolate chips.Another 2.25 liter bottle of Uncle Ben's salsa. They only had seven jars of chunky peanut butter, so she bought them all, and then gave four to Sister Peck upstairs, because they were almost out. She bought all the big heavy things she could think of, because it's a trip in a car! No walking home from the store.

We also needed to replenish our 72-hour emergency kit. Each volunteer apartment does that every six months in April and October. That was a bunch of granola bars, gorp, canned tuna, crackers, etc. Survival food that is stored in a duffel bag with candles, water, towels, TP, etc. We could grab it if we ever needed to evacuate in a hurry. We pull out the food that is six months old and now eat it for lunch.

The rest of the week we were just in the office. No special meetings. Ken is still recovering from last week's cold, so we even traded away our Friday afternoon Hermitage Service.  






Friday night we walked down the road and had dinner at Mama Roma's. Good Italian food. Ken took a picture just because we don't have much else in this week's blog.












But Saturday night things got a little more interesting. We had a Game Night at the Fontanka Institute Building, sponsored by our District with Shuvalovo Ward volunteers also coming and bringing friends.


























After the games there are cookies and chips and sodas for all. Sue made her "healthy" zucchini muffins, which are always a big hit. Gluten free, no sugar, no oil. If it weren't for the chocolate chips they would be really healthy!










And after the game night we trekked uptown to the Main Post Office. It's nice that it is open 24/7. We are still looking for the box Elder Otterson's mom sent from Sweden on Sept 14. So far, no luck. But we just found out there is a second window where we have to check for mail. As a result, we picked up two packages for Sister Karlsson from Sweden. One was sent recently, but the other was sent in June! And one for Elder Scott Jensen sent on 2 March from Thailand!! Scott went home in August. So, we opened the package because it weighed almost nothing and the customs form said it was a toy worth 47 cents. 

It's a rubber-band powered foam and bamboo airplane. We can send it home with someone if he really wants it, or we'll use it for White Elephant gift at the Mission Christmas Party in December.  

The other red packages in the picture are from Ken's shopping stop on the way to game night. His contribution is black licorice from Finland, which we can only buy at the Prisma store near the Fontanka building. He bought one bag of licorice for the party, and four more to bring home. Root beer and licorice make Ken a happy camper.