OUT OF TOWN

Dad and I are leaving in the morning to fly to Voronezh for our zone conference in the South Zone.  It is going to be a very busy couple of days for Dad.  He will interview all the missionaries in that zone--plus several branch members on Friday.  Saturday will be our zone conference.  We will catch the 4:00 p.m. flight back to Moscow so that we can go to our building at 9:00 p.m. and watch the broadcast of President Hinckley's funeral.  Of course we will have our cell phones if you need to get in touch with us.  I always miss you more when I am away from the computer and phone.   ILYT  Hugs & Kisses

Sweet Lotoshino Branch

These are pictures we took at church last Sunday when we were visiting the Lotoshino Branch.  We rent this building that is a driving school/mechanics school.  A companionship of Elders that are serving in a nearby city, Tver, make the trip on the bus to Lotoshino every other Sunday.  The branch is primarily made up of two families.  The Garboos family is the strength of the branch.  Brother Garboos is the Branch President.  That is him standing in front of the car sign.  I'm sitting next to Sis. Garboos.  The other lady is the Garboos' daughter in law (her husband and the Garboos' only child is in the USA right now).  The youngest girl is the Garboos' one and only grandchild.  The older man in the back is raising his son Victor (next to him) and daughter Masha (in front row) by himself.  The missionaries are Elder Sorensen (AP), Elder Salinas (lives in TX 20 min. from Mexico border where he goes to visit family nearly every weekend when he was home.  Word is he makes great mexican food), and Elder Geels (UT).  Remember when I wrote you about the Lord's tender mercies in meeting up with a family and leading them to the building that we met in when Elder Bednar was here?  That was the Garboos family.  They are from the Ukraine and joined the church there.  I always wonder if Tracy Payne might know them.  I love to  visit this branch.  They are so loving and warm.  They always invite us to go over to their humble little apt. after meetings and have borcht.  We did that once, but we are usually always in a hurry to get back to Moscow for interviews, etc.  I wish you could meet these wonderful people.  They immediately work their way to the center of your heart.

Home Sweet Home

The Larks went from living in the adorable yellow house to being homeless for the past six weeks.  Well--today is a good news day for us because they have found an apartment and will move in on Friday.  Whoohoo!  They get to live in the two bedroom apartment on the ground floor of Trace's building.  They are going to love being close to Trace and being in the Murray Hill area.  Trace has been such a good sport and blessing.  What a great Uncle.  Congratulations Larkies.  We are happy for you. 

Dad & Police

Sunday we drove to Lotoshino for our meetings.  Dad got pulled over by the big bad policeman and his  magic stick two different times on the way there.  The first time the policeman just looked at his papers and let him go.  The second time he had to "step into the office".  It didn't take him long--usually doesn't when you are making a voluntary contribution to their family fund.  That reminds me of a Russian joke our dear Elder Petrov shared with us.  

A little boy ran in to wake up his Policeman Dad who had overslept.  "Daddy, Daddy, wake up--the people have been driving for free for hours."  Yep--that pretty much says it all.

President Hinckley

Dad's cell phone rang at 6:00 a.m. today.  I always get nervous when it rings really early or really late.  I immediately think something is wrong with one of our missionaries.  It was President Gibbons from our area presidency.  He told Dad that President Hinckley had passed away.  Even though our beloved Prophet was 97 1/2 I still wasn't prepared.  Oh, how I will miss him.  Besides having all of the qualities that every Prophet has had, I will always remember and admire his sense of humor, wit and his optimism.  He is my example of being positive and I refer to his poem that was in the funeral program of his sweetheart, Marjorie, often--especially since I have been here in Moscow.  It's called  "Put Your Trust in God"

It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is,

It all works out.  Don't worry.

I say that to myself every morning.

It will all work out.

Put your trust in God,

and move forward with faith

and confidence in the future.

The Lord will not forsake us.

He will not forsake us.

If we put our trust in Him,

if we will pray to Him,

if we will live worthy of His blessings,

He will hear our prayers.

I'm sure he has had many joyous reunions--especially with his Marjorie.   He is the only Prophet the Russians know.  They will have a hard time with his death.  He will be missed by all.

Scary

So I get this phone call and it's 5:30 a.m. CA time.  I answer the phone and all I hear is someone crying on the other end.  My heart stops and I begin to think scary thoughts.  Finally, Brooke starts talking.  She is on her way to the emergency room with our sweet Bubbles, Jane.  She had been up all night with her because Jane got all croupy and couldn't breathe.  Poor baby.  I talked to her until she got to the hospital.  As I hung up, I told her I would be praying for them.  I did just that--prayed.  Of course I told her to call asap to let me know what was happening.  Time has past by slowly--but I just off the phone and Brooke said that they gave Jane a steroid shot, and a breathing treatment and she was sleeping under a humidifier type thing.  She was so much better, but they might do another breathing treatment.  The nurse got after Brooke.  She told her that she should have called 911.  Faith and prayers--what would our life be without them?  We are so blessed.  Remember Janie Girl in your prayers.  I knew Brooke was doing a lot better because she brought up how Dad could always tell it was Brooke calling back when she was a freshman at BYU because all he could hear was crying on the other end.  That was a rough time for our Boogins. 

Another Zone Conference

We did another zone conference yesterday.  I thought I would share a few more pictures of my marvelous missionaries with you.  I wish you could know each one of them.  You would love them dearly too.  The first picture is of Elder Sorensen (AP) and Elder Lundquist (he is from Sandy, UT and it was his 20th birthday yesterday.  Doesn't he look about 17?  His parents sent him birthday money to go eat at Bennihanas--I'm trying to get an invitation from him).  The next picture is of  all of my sisters in the zone.  (Sister Zonova, Russian, she gave me a bookmark she made for me at zone conference--so sweet, Sister Aidarbekava from Khazakstan, she works in the office, Sister Nikitina, Lithuania serving in Minsk, Sister Dransfield, Poway, CA serving in Minsk, Sister Odinokava Russian, plays the piano beautifully, and Sister Wood, Anchorage, Alaska, serving in Minsk) the last picture is of Elder Spring (from Laie, Hawaii--he goes home in Feb. Don't tell Sister Wood and Sister Dransfield that I got them in the background stuffing their faces with pizza)