October 2003-Well, its been a busy past few days. On Wednesday night, we went running in the park with Sergei for Young Mens. It was good, and we were supposed to run 10 kilometers in under an hour for him to complete a requirement for his Duty to God award. Sergei was pretty proud of himself. On Thursday we did service with Lena, an inactive member at the Детский сад (Kindergarten) where she works, and we got to play with the kids which was fun.
Thursday night,
President Oswald and Elder Clark flew in. Sister Oswald came a day early to practice for The Messiah. We had English club on Thursday night, and it went well. A cool man named Sergei that we met on the street came. We are going to baptize him and he is going to become the branch president. Friday we worked with Elder Clark, one of the APs and we had good Ds with Tatyana and Anatoli. I also got my AIDS test done to renew my visa next week in Korea. We went to the Messiah last night. It was the first time it has been performed on Sakhalin and was a really miraculous production. It lasted until 10:30, then we came home and E. Clark stayed with us. He and E. Harmer are good friends (from the same MTC group) and we stayed up talking until about 2AM then finally went to bed. We had zone conference this morning at the Kammer’s apartment, which went really well, and I feel that I learned a lot. The spirit was strong and it was a really beneficial thing for me especially. I learned a lot about myself and how I can become a better Elder.
We then had lunch with President @
Pacific Café where he interviewed us. We had a discussion with Masha and her dad. She is 22 and we tracted into her the other day and made a return appt. for tonight. Well, they just wanted to Bible bash with us. We had a really long беседа (discussion) with them, and really testified strong to them at the end. They didn’t accept anything, but I really felt the promptings of the spirit, and recognized times when it wasn’t me talking, though the words came out of my mouth. It was a growing experience for me. I only wish they had accepted our message. Maybe someday they will. Anatoli, Elder and Sister Kammer’s neighbor, drove us home and as were coming up the hill, we noticed that the whole neighborhood was glowing orange. As we got closer to our place, we realized that out neighbor’s house was burning down. Across the street from our little house several
Новый русский are building mansions and one of them was completely in flames. We got out our cameras, took some pictures then finally came home.
As has become the norm lately, we didn't have electricity when we got home, and I am currently writing by candlelight. The mafia arson across the street made for an interesting end to the day. I wonder what tomorrow has in store.
Looking back now-
I can't believe that it has already been five years. I was one of four elders and a senior couple serving on the island of Sakhalin at the time, and I still miss it today. I had an amazing mission president who is now a member of the general Sunday School presidency (He spoke today in the afternoon session of conference.) The church was only a few years old, and most of the members were youth that we had met through our weekly English club. At the time, the branch sometimes felt like a youth club or something. I wondered if the gospel would take root there. It has been amazing for me to watch these past 5 years as these kids have grown, gone on missions of their own, married each other, and are now raising their own children and families on Sakhalin. Because of visa problems, American missionaries are no longer called to Russia, but the members there are doing a remarkable job of carrying forth the gospel on their own.
She is sitting on a pumpkin. Her idea.
Tyler did a great job on the trunk. He did have his laptop in the back playing a Halloween movie, but the flashing pumkin stole the show. Rachel loved getting candy, but being in the dark with flahing lights coming out of cars freaked her out. She was very nervous, but her rewards were great! She can't wait for Grandma's trick or treating tomorrow night.
Rachel led us through the maze:
