Just wanted to drop a quick line to let you know a few things that are going on here. There are in no particular order of importance but let me just get to the point.
1. ATAK is here! None of you know that ATAK is a baby ASHAN and with that said, you still don't know what I am talking about. ASHAN is Russia's closest thing to a WalMart. So what I am saying is that an ATAK store has just opened within about 100 yards from our apartment. It will take us a total of about 1 minute to walk there from our apartment. We are so excited how wonderful it is going to be for us to not have to pack a backpack full of grocery bags and get on a Metro train and ride 30 minutes, get off, ride a Marschootka (little bus) to the ASHAN store and then shop for 40 minutes, bag up our groceries in the reinforced fiber grocery bags along with our backpack, and then return the same way we came with the added 40-60 pounds of food and groceries. This will make life so much smoother with less effort, time, and money. One drawback.... what are we going to do to get the exercise we need so desperately!
2. WE HAD 15 INVESTIGATORS TO CHURCH LAST SUNDAY!!! (not for General Conference but the Sunday before). We couldn't understand where they all came from but we were pleasantly surprised that they all came. We had a great block of meetings that Sunday. Hopefully they will continue their progression.
3. General Conference was just amazing. We have only been able to watch the first Session of each day but we will watch the balance this weekend when all of the translations occur here in Russia. It was so very exciting to us to hear and see President Monson discuss a couple of things. A). He gave a great shout out to all of the temple dedications and cultural events but then gave a specific comment to our Cultural Event here in Ukraine.... it was great to hear him say those wonderful things about our group of kids. and B). It was so encouraging to hear him request the desperate need for more Senior Couples along with the regular missionaries. If I haven't said it yet, I will say it now, "We need more Senior Couples!" Our area is all I know for sure, but we are in desperate need of almost a dozen couples here in our Area. We can't wait to hear the rest of Conference.
4. Summer is gone. Fall is all but gone. Winter is setting in quick! Our highs are in the mid 40's now and the lows right at the freezing level. Who knows, we may see snow next week! Welcome to Moscow everyone!
5. Moscow Boat Trip was just wonderful... It was 2 hours of cool overcast weather and lovely scenery. I will include a photo or two. Moscow is a beautiful city but very few people recognize it as such. The photo with us in it has the Kremlin and other religious sanctuaries behind us.
6. One of our missionaries, broke his nose during a "Preperation-Day" activity of Gator Ball. A few days later, two other missionaries had a similar incident although much worse. One of the Elders broke his two front teeth out. Interestingly enough, he found them lodged in the head of a fellow missionary. Needless to say, both missionaries are out of commission for a while. Gator Ball, which is a combination of Soccer, Basketball, and Football, just might be on the new list of things in the missionary White Book that are NOT ALLOWED! I feel for our mission president who is one of the kindest men I have ever met and his wife surely has already been "translated" she is so nice.
7. We prepared a Mexican Feast for our Elder's Quorum president Timur Kodirov (who was featured in the Church's, World Report between sessions of General Conference during the first 5 minutes of the report). He invited his co-workers to his apartment and we prepared the dinner, ate it and then played games... It was a wonderful event.
8. We had two wonderful Uzbekistan men who are investigating the Church for dinner the other night. They came and prepared a Rice dish called Plove which is with Rice, Carrots, Onions, and Lamb. It was very good and was fun to eat. One of them is getting baptized in a few weeks. The other we have been personally teaching for quite some time and has been an Atheist all of his 67 years. He is also a Chemistry Professor so he seems to have very little faith. He is reading the Book of Mormon and has very good questions, but he lacks faith at this point and has a difficult still with praying vocally.
9. I may not have mentioned this in the past but Sister Packard and I have been featured as part of an article involving the Young Single Adult Conference that we had back in May where as part of the Conference we did a service project where we sewed handkerchiefs to be donated for the Kiev Temple dedicatory sessions. Apparently part of the article has a picture of us involved in helping with the service project. We have not seen it but apparently the article is in the September issue of the Liahona magazine. Your local LDS bookstore should have it. Like I mentioned, we have not seen it and we may not see it for months. Russia makes it very difficult for us to receive printed religious materials. We never did receive many copies of last General Conference. Also, it is against the law to distribute any Bibles to the public other than those published by the Russian Orthodox Church. The ROC has a strong influence on the government here.
10. We sang a duet/love song for a young lady's birthday who is getting married in a few weeks. It was fun to do and we got many compliments on our number although it was in English and not many people understood the words to our song.
So, those are a few things that are going or have gone on here in the past few weeks.
We are excited for the work and how things are going... we solicit your continued thoughts and prayers to enhance the work here and throughout the world.
We love you all and wish you the very best.
Love,
Elder and Sister Packard
