Well Everyone,
I know it has been quite a few weeks since I last wrote and I apologize for that. I know that none of you have been clamoring for my letters either so I know that they are not #1 on your list. Regardless, I am requested to write "home" regularly and although there are very few traditional mission rules that apply to Senior Couples, I guess I should try to be somewhat obedient to merit the blessings of Heaven. Once again, if you will review our Facebook page regularly, you may see things a little sooner and will a little more regularity.
As you all know, it is summertime. Here is Russia it is also summertime and this particular summer has been a "doozy!" If this isn't the last days, I don't know what it will be like when it finally is. This past winter we had the most snow and coldest temperatures for over 65 years. This summer has been on the very opposite extreme. To date, this is the driest summer in the past 135 years here in Russia and according to reports, 9 million Hectares of grain crops are lost. That is an area the size of Portugal, yes, the country. It has also been the hottest on record for the past 70 years and due to the heat over 1200 people have drowned due to drinking vodka, then cooling off in the rivers, sea's and lakes. It is a sad tale but that is what is happening currently in Russia.
Because I have not written in quite some time I am going to do things a little different. Instead of giving you all of the details of this past week and the previous ones I am going to give just the highlights. They will be numbered so you can decide if a particular item is important or not and then go on to read it. There are less than 10 items so it shouldn't take too long. Here is the list of which is in no particular order of importance.
1. Elder L. Tom Perry Visits Moscow 2. Vladimir ("I killed a bug") gets baptized and receives the Priesthood. Other Baptisms
3. Kiev Temple Cultural Event 4. President Robert C. Packard Visits Moscow with his lovely wife Talmadge
5. Landon Marries Adriana Melendez 6. Other family happenings on interest
7. Bethany's Father passes away 8. CES Institute Fall Kick-Off
1. Elder Perry came to Moscow a number of weeks ago now and visited with every imaginable group/category of members...He met with the missionaries, the Young Single Adults, and the general membership. His visit with the missionaries was particularly fun for us. Each missionary had the opportunity to shake hands and visit briefly with this Senior Apostle of the Lord. When we got up to meet and introduce ourselves he quickly responded by saying, "Are you part of the famous Packard family of missionaries in the Church?" We both answered in the affirmative. What a great legacy our parents and extended family have given to us to follow. We had him for a special Family Home Evening/Fireside with the YSA's and what an evening it was. He spoke with boldness and authority as he is famous for in the Church and told the story of Joseph who was sold into Egypt. He mentioned how that in every situation that Joseph was put into (being sold into slavery, put in prisons, servant to Pharaoh, etc.), Joseph seemed to make the best of it and came out on top. He said to the youth, "we need more Joseph's (and Josephine's he added) and fewer Davids, referring to King David in his later life. He told the kids to "live with Enthusiasm!" Sister Packard has since made a 20' banner that says that saying in Russian and we have posted it on the wall in the upstairs Institute Room in our local building. The District Conference that we had while he was here was just fabulous. We had almost 1000 participants and about 100 were investigators. It was a great event. Almost twice the size event than in previous years. He was a great boost to all that were in attendance.
2. Vladimir, the 70+ year old who "killed a bug" with his toe and then said, "it's ok, I am not baptized yet." He was baptized a few weeks ago and just yesterday received the Aaronic Priesthood. He will be a great leader here in the for a number of years to come. We have also had record baptisms here in our mission in the past few months. Now don't get too excited, this is not South America, but needless to say, we have had more baptisms in the past 3 months than we had in some complete years in recent past. It is a great trend that we are able to witness a participate in. Miracles definitely are happening.
3. As we have mentioned to some of you, Sister Packard and I are in charge of overseeing the Kiev Temple Cultural Event to take place at the end of August, yes, just a few short weeks ahead. We feel tons of pressure to make this happen in a way that will be pleasing to the Lord as well as The First Presidency and the members in attendance. The challenge has been getting people to participate and recognizing the immense task at hand. Coordinating this effort between several missions and a number of surrounding countries is overwhelming. Keep your fingers crossed and continue to pray for us.
4. Mom and Dad Packard have finished their mission to Tbilisi, Georgia early on account that they have been called to serve as the new Temple President and Matron to the Dallas, Texas Temple beginning in November. We are so proud and excited for them. They made a special effort to come and see us as part of their trip home and we were so grateful to have them come and stay with us for 4 days. We traveled around the city and saw the sights of Moscow, including Red Square, The Kremlin, etc., and we ate at fancy restaurants and played games each evening. We introduced them to all of the other Senior Couples and missionaries and they were able to have one last dose of the Russian language as they attended our Sunday services. It was just a great treat to have them here and staying with us.
5. A few weeks ago now, our youngest son Landon married a wonderful and beautiful young woman by the name of Adriana Melendez. She comes from a wonderful family and we had the great honor and privilege to get permission from the Area Authorities here and the Missionary Dept. of the Church and attend the wedding in the Salt Lake Temple. She is going to be a great addition to our family and we are so very grateful to have her become a integral part of our growing family, and we are so pleased that she loves our son. The wedding and sealing ceremony was just so uplifting and sweet. The sealer was so very inspired to visit with all of us on a personal level. We loved being in the temple and on the temple grounds. They are a very happy and lovely couple.
6. Like many of you, our family is just growing and is so very busy with tons of things.
7. Prior to leaving for our mission, Bethany's father's health was failing. So much so with Diabetes complications, he made a specific reference that was, "I hope I will be around by the time you come home." We assured him that he wasn't going anywhere (those of you who knew Don Grabow know that he was always "barking" about something or other). Just over two weeks ago as he was planning on driving down from Idaho to Utah for his grandson Landon's wedding he mentioned to his wife Marlene that he really wasn't feeling well and really "hoped that the Lord would let him hang on until Chad and Bethany got home from their mission,"and according to her, she said later that he really did not look too well. His color and things were not good.
We arrived into SLC late Saturday night. The next day was Father's Day. Bethany called and spoke to her father and had a very nice visit with him on Father's Day. He was excited to come down within just a few days and be together with all of his children and grandchildren. We planned on spending three or four days together.
Just shortly after 4 p.m. the next day (Monday) we received a call from Bethany's mother indicating that she found her father dead on their bedroom floor when she came home from cleaning a house. It was a complete shock to all of us. Although we have all been preparing for his demise, we just were all shocked due the fact that within the past 3 months he had had full checkup of his heart. The Coroner's "cause of death" was "massive heart failure." This event was a blow to everyone. All those family members from Idaho who were planning on attending the wedding of Landon and Adriana were now going to be staying to prepare events for a funeral there in Idaho.
One of the interesting things that occurred just a few days later as we were in the sealing room of the Salt Lake Temple, participating in the Sealing on Landon and Dri, Bethany leaned over to me as asked, "Do you think that my father is here with us?" I thought for just a second and responded that I thought that the spirit of our bodies had responsibilities to the body until the body was interred. So with that, just about 30 seconds later, Landon and Dri, along with the Sealer came in. They sat in their seats while he introduced himself and apologized for being a little late. We all understood, it being June and all at the Salt Lake Temple. He began by saying that he felt prompted to speak on a portion of the sealing verbiage. He referred to "Angels." He asked the question, "Who do you think the angels referred to in the sealing ordinance are?" There were no comments of course but he answered by saying that he had always felt that "angels" were pre-deceasing family members who had interest in what transpires in the sealing rooms of the temples of the Lord. He also then mentioned that he had a fairly lengthy conversation with Neal A. Maxwell and other Sealers on the subject and that he agreed. I leaned over to Bethany and whispered, "well, I guess there is your answer." We both then felt that Don Grabow, Bethany's father, was indeed there in the sealing room in spirit with us. The ceremony was wonderful and very sweet. Once it was over, we took the opportunity to visit with the Sealer and we thanked him for what he had said and how it was said. We asked if he normally speaks about this topic and he shook his head and said "no." He mentioned that he just felt that he should speak about it that day. We then told him a little about the recent events that transpired in our extended family and he gave his condolences and thanked us for mentioning it to him. It was just a wonderful experience.
It has been another testimony to us to make sure we pray specifically to Heavenly Father for what we want or need. In this case, Dad Grabow prayed that we would be home when he passed on. In a sense we were. The very next morning after this wonderful and glorious event, of joining two worthy young people together eternally, we left very early in the morning (Saturday) and drove up to Idaho to be with the balance of the family and participate in the funeral services of our father and Patriarch Don Grabow. These services, like the one of the previous day in the Temple were just wonderful and inspiring to review and celebrate the life of Bethany's father. It was great to see all of the support and love that was showered onto the family by all those in attendance.
I was great to be with everyone and spend some time together. What a whirlwind of events during the week we were home from our mission. We had the full gambit of emotions and now memories to remember and recall. We thank you all now for your thoughts and prayers for us during this time.
8. One of the events that we are so excited about now is the Institute Fall Opening. We plan on having a wonderful event. As many of you know, this year's subject is Church History and Doctrine and Covenants. We plan on having a great pioneer event with a Chuck Wagon Feed, Games, Visitors past Pioneers, and a good ol' fashioned Ho Down! We think it will be a great kick off to the Fall program of Institute. More info to come.
Well, that is about it. Sorry again for not writing as often... but I hope this gets you caught up. We love and miss you all. We love this work and are working hard to build the Kingdom of God on this side of the world.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
5-30-10
Howdy y'all!
It is about time for another installment of the lives of Sister Packard and I here in Moscow. It has been very nice weather here as of late... in fact more than nice. It has been a little rainy but we surely need that in order to clean up the streets and sidewalks. I is supposed to warm up again this week and get back into the 70's.
We have had such great blessings happening to us each and every day. It seems as if the Lord has no other place to care for other than here and blessings keep coming and coming.
Many of you ask periodically about how we are adapting and how the language is coming. This language is hard and that is all there is to it. I now know why Elder Larry Gibbons laughed at us when we asked him how his language was doing after being here on assignment for 3 years! It truly is the gift of tongues to learn any of these syrillic alphabet languages. I am so impressed that the young missionaries are able to communicate as well as they do after just a few months of being here. Sister Packard and I are doing our best and it is a true statement that we are learning some and are able to pick up on bits and pieces of conversations but we have a real challenge in our communication skills. One of the challenges is that "everyone" wants to speak English to us. And, here in Moscow, many many many people here speak some amount of English. I am confident that if we were in the other parts of Russia which the locals call the "real" Russia it would be different for us.
We have had many of our investigators that have progressed toward baptism and others have let go of the iron rod completely. The challenges of tradition and change are paramount here in Russia. Some accept the needed change and see the light that the gospel brings and move forward. It is very interesting to see that some investigators are truly the "elect" while others are not quite so "elect."
This two weeks have been packed with so much stuff, I cannot condense into a letter that you will take the time to read. I know how busy most of you are. Just to give you an idea, I spent most of the morning this Sunday morning writing 5 full pages of information on one day of activities! It makes it hard to get out and really "do" the work when it takes so long just to write about the events of the day. This one particular day is quite unique though.... It is about a funeral that we were invited to. I think I will go ahead and send that day in my next email sometime later this week so you will still have time to read and ingest this letter.
Today I want to take a portion of a day this past week and let you see what we have been doing recently with one of our investigators named Vladimer (emphasis on the "i"). We in America pronounce the name incorrectly with the emphasis on the "a". Just a little Russian lesson for you all. Anyway, Vladimer is an investigator that is planning on being baptized on teh 12th of June. He is in his early to mid 70's and is not your typical Russian. He has a beautiful smile and his eyes just light up when he does small. We say that he has "happy" eyes. He is a retired military engineer and worked most of his 40 year career building rockets/bombs for their "Mig" fighter jets here in Moscow. One of the comments he made last week was "I never in my wildest dreams ever thought that during my lifetime I would have people from America give service to me preparing my summer garden." Last week and this week we have gone out to his "Dacha" or summer garden and been digging in the dirt and transplanting flowers, strawberries, and just cleaning up. Below is what I wrote about in my journal that happened this week at his Dacha (Daucha).
It is about time for another installment of the lives of Sister Packard and I here in Moscow. It has been very nice weather here as of late... in fact more than nice. It has been a little rainy but we surely need that in order to clean up the streets and sidewalks. I is supposed to warm up again this week and get back into the 70's.
We have had such great blessings happening to us each and every day. It seems as if the Lord has no other place to care for other than here and blessings keep coming and coming.
Many of you ask periodically about how we are adapting and how the language is coming. This language is hard and that is all there is to it. I now know why Elder Larry Gibbons laughed at us when we asked him how his language was doing after being here on assignment for 3 years! It truly is the gift of tongues to learn any of these syrillic alphabet languages. I am so impressed that the young missionaries are able to communicate as well as they do after just a few months of being here. Sister Packard and I are doing our best and it is a true statement that we are learning some and are able to pick up on bits and pieces of conversations but we have a real challenge in our communication skills. One of the challenges is that "everyone" wants to speak English to us. And, here in Moscow, many many many people here speak some amount of English. I am confident that if we were in the other parts of Russia which the locals call the "real" Russia it would be different for us.
We have had many of our investigators that have progressed toward baptism and others have let go of the iron rod completely. The challenges of tradition and change are paramount here in Russia. Some accept the needed change and see the light that the gospel brings and move forward. It is very interesting to see that some investigators are truly the "elect" while others are not quite so "elect."
This two weeks have been packed with so much stuff, I cannot condense into a letter that you will take the time to read. I know how busy most of you are. Just to give you an idea, I spent most of the morning this Sunday morning writing 5 full pages of information on one day of activities! It makes it hard to get out and really "do" the work when it takes so long just to write about the events of the day. This one particular day is quite unique though.... It is about a funeral that we were invited to. I think I will go ahead and send that day in my next email sometime later this week so you will still have time to read and ingest this letter.
Today I want to take a portion of a day this past week and let you see what we have been doing recently with one of our investigators named Vladimer (emphasis on the "i"). We in America pronounce the name incorrectly with the emphasis on the "a". Just a little Russian lesson for you all. Anyway, Vladimer is an investigator that is planning on being baptized on teh 12th of June. He is in his early to mid 70's and is not your typical Russian. He has a beautiful smile and his eyes just light up when he does small. We say that he has "happy" eyes. He is a retired military engineer and worked most of his 40 year career building rockets/bombs for their "Mig" fighter jets here in Moscow. One of the comments he made last week was "I never in my wildest dreams ever thought that during my lifetime I would have people from America give service to me preparing my summer garden." Last week and this week we have gone out to his "Dacha" or summer garden and been digging in the dirt and transplanting flowers, strawberries, and just cleaning up. Below is what I wrote about in my journal that happened this week at his Dacha (Daucha).
Day 95 Moscow Tuesday May 25th
We had a great day today. We had another opportunity to go back out to Himke to work with Vladimer on his Dacha. Again, we left quite early and met the Elders out at the end of the Green Line in Rechnoy. It was a repeat of the day last week that we did the same things. This time we had an extra set of missionaries in that Elder O’Bryant and Elder Bogdonov came with us. We worked hard getting more of the Dacha cleaned up and tilled under. In fact, that is really all we did. We didn’t burn anything because everything was burned last time.
We had lunch just like last time and below is a photo of our group having lunch just like last time.
Just prior to leaving Elder Kadirov had a Spiritual Thought and it was all about “Faith.” During the last portion of the thought Vladimer noticed a bug crawling by his foot. He took the bug with his toes and moved it onto the sidewalk. Just then he took his big toe and smashed the bug and wiped it on the sidewalk with his toe. It was noticeable enough that everyone except Elder Kadirov saw it. Elder O and Elder B both started to giggle and snicker and that kind of got the rest of us to notice more and it got Vladimer to smile…remember, he is a 73 yr-old man and is not a member of the church yet. Once we got through the thought, we all opened up a little and giggled a little more and then Vladimer said the following in his slow and somewhat broken English… “I killed…, a bug…, but I still can because I am not baptized yet.” Below is a photo of Vladimer and I after we finished for the morning.
Keep you thoughts and prayers coming. We love you and we love the Lord.
Sincerely,
Elder and Sister Packard
Monday, May 3, 2010
5-2-10
Howdy Y'all from Moscow!
Actually I am writing this letter from Riga, Latvia... What a beautiful place! I am sorry for not writing last week. It has been difficult to take the time to write. We have been so busy with our assignments as well as working with our missionaries. First thing on the list to do in this letter is to let you know that your prayers for us and the other missionaries around the world are being answered in our behalf. Some of you are praying for the individuals by name that we are working with and some are even taking those names to the temple to be prayed for by the rest of the Saints. Thank you for your kindness in behalf of these wonderful investigators. Both of the investigators whose names are Alexander have accepted baptismal challenges and have baptismal dates set. A young man by the name of Dima who came to a "chalk drawing" session a few weeks ago has also accepted baptism and had a discussion in our home this past week. The work is moving forward and is beginning to progress a little more rapidly.
I have mentioned briefly in previous letters that the adversary is doing his best to thwart this work. It will not happen. This work will roll forward and it is such a wonderful opportunity to serve in this capacity at this time in our lives and witness the Lord's hand in this very work. We have plenty of opposition, in fact, in church today we met a couple here in Latvia who just came from the States and are from Chicago. They were in a stake conference just prior to coming where Elder Dallin H. Oaks was a visiting General Authority. He took the opportunity to mention in one of the meetings that the church is struggling in Russia but is moving forward. He mentioned specifically that the Russian Orthodox Church is putting pressure on the Russian government to disallow proselyting in the country. The Russian Orthodox Church is very strong with about 80% of the population declaring it as their church of choice. In speaking with this new missionary couple today I told them that there are other faiths in Russia who are also proselyting and are currently in litigation with the Russian Government. It will be interesting to see what happens. The Church does so much for the Russian people in reference to spiritual wellness and of course it spends 10's of millions of dollars on humanitarian services in the area that is of immense help.
Let me just tell you all how grateful we are for your thoughts and prayers again. I feel impressed to admonish you to continue this simple act of faith. I am going to finish this letter with an excerpt from my journal that happened just last week. I will keep you posted as to what goes on here. We are working hard and are faithful in furthering this work and "fighting the good fight."
Actually I am writing this letter from Riga, Latvia... What a beautiful place! I am sorry for not writing last week. It has been difficult to take the time to write. We have been so busy with our assignments as well as working with our missionaries. First thing on the list to do in this letter is to let you know that your prayers for us and the other missionaries around the world are being answered in our behalf. Some of you are praying for the individuals by name that we are working with and some are even taking those names to the temple to be prayed for by the rest of the Saints. Thank you for your kindness in behalf of these wonderful investigators. Both of the investigators whose names are Alexander have accepted baptismal challenges and have baptismal dates set. A young man by the name of Dima who came to a "chalk drawing" session a few weeks ago has also accepted baptism and had a discussion in our home this past week. The work is moving forward and is beginning to progress a little more rapidly.
I have mentioned briefly in previous letters that the adversary is doing his best to thwart this work. It will not happen. This work will roll forward and it is such a wonderful opportunity to serve in this capacity at this time in our lives and witness the Lord's hand in this very work. We have plenty of opposition, in fact, in church today we met a couple here in Latvia who just came from the States and are from Chicago. They were in a stake conference just prior to coming where Elder Dallin H. Oaks was a visiting General Authority. He took the opportunity to mention in one of the meetings that the church is struggling in Russia but is moving forward. He mentioned specifically that the Russian Orthodox Church is putting pressure on the Russian government to disallow proselyting in the country. The Russian Orthodox Church is very strong with about 80% of the population declaring it as their church of choice. In speaking with this new missionary couple today I told them that there are other faiths in Russia who are also proselyting and are currently in litigation with the Russian Government. It will be interesting to see what happens. The Church does so much for the Russian people in reference to spiritual wellness and of course it spends 10's of millions of dollars on humanitarian services in the area that is of immense help.
Let me just tell you all how grateful we are for your thoughts and prayers again. I feel impressed to admonish you to continue this simple act of faith. I am going to finish this letter with an excerpt from my journal that happened just last week. I will keep you posted as to what goes on here. We are working hard and are faithful in furthering this work and "fighting the good fight."
| Day 65 Moscow Tonight we had the long awaited “Musical” which was written, arranged, and directed by a YSA from our area. It was very well attended and done quite well for the talent and budget that was provided. It was the story of a young man and girl who met at a dance, he was the DJ and she was just there with some friends. They fell in love, but he was not a member of the Church so she didn’t get engaged to him. There was a struggle inside her to do the right thing. She got good council from her mother and so she told him things were off! It broke his heart and so he started reading the Book of Mormon, joined the church, saw that one of their common friends got married in the temple so he decided to go on a mission and then came home, and they got married in the temple too! And they all lived happily ever after. That was the story and like a said. It was quite good. The sound was terrible and the venue was bad but it was the best we had and I think that all that were in attendance were pleased. It was standing room only in the Cokolniki building. ***The interesting thing that happened afterward was that the Overly’s and us went home together. As we walked the 15 minutes from the church building to the Metro stop we had a great conversation about how the production was. It was fun to participate in it. We got down to the platform of the metro station and waited for our train to arrive. The train came and we got on. Almost immediately as we were getting our seats, we were approached by a young family man who was sitting just a little way off from us. Before we could take our seats he asked (in English) if we were Mormon? I said that we were and then he asked if he could get a copy of the Book of Mormon. He was very sincere as he told of his experience with a young man who was trying to teach him English in Italy for about 4 months. He said that this “boy” had to leave to go to Taiwan and that because of his experience he wanted to read the book. As I was discussing this, Bethany went over to meet his wife and young son. They had a great short visit and so I got his name and phone number so I could give him a copy of the Book of Mormon later. The Overly’s were witnesses with us of a miracle that happens occasionally. For the past 6 months (since before we left for our mission), we have been praying to Heavenly Father to send those people that He has been preparing to receive the gospel to us to teach and bring them into the Church. This is just one short example of these prayers coming to fruition. We have a few others that have recently happened as well on the street, in the Metro trains, and on the escalators from one Metro station to another. I believe they are all miracles. Think about the following: There are approximately 18 million people in Moscow, with some additional 10+ million that come in and out of the city each working day. Approximately 9 -12 million people ride the Metro each day. The Metro is open and running for 18 hours each day. There are 8 Metro lines throughout the city, each with about 50 trains and each train with about 12 cars. There are over 100 stations. Trains come to stations almost ever minute or two. To come on the exact portion of the train car at the correct time of day is no coincidence. Some statustition needs to calculate what the odds are of that happening to meet this young family Vasily and Katia. The other happened chances are just as amazing as well. President Cranney, our mission president said it like this: “The Lord carefully crafts the intersections of our lives.” What an amazing experience. I am confident that the Lord is directing all of us each and every day. What a blessing it is to know that He is in charge of our lives if we will let Him. Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy....The first one is of one of locations where the bombings took place (Lubyanka). It is about 3 metro stops from our home in Downtown Moscow. It is about 20 minute walk from our home. The one below it is a photo I took at the Pushkin museum. It is a statue (replica) of Barthololew's baptismal font... Notice the oxen. Thanks again for your help in this great work. Elder and Sister Packard |
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Sunday, April 18, 2010
4-17-10
Hey everyone,
We have had another fabulous week! It seems as though we are getting more and more busy... by the end of this week we had two to three lessons each day. I want to invite you to come and see our facebook photo album. If you are not on facebook, consider getting on it. You can be on Facebook and still keep your temple recommend. For those who are not on Facebook and still want to see a picture or two I will try and have a few shown on this email.
Our weeks are now pretty much routine and I have mentioned several things that we are doing and people we are working with in previous emails so I won't be quite as detailed in some aspects of our daily routine.
First off, I forgot to mention in this letter last week that since we are on our mission and money is tight all around the world, including Moscow, we decided that we would save the $200 -$250 it would cost to cut and color Bethany's hair and she enlisted my help in making this process happen. As many of you may know, I have cut my own hair for the past 20 years. I learned how to do this from my father's example and my sister Daphne's expertise, and practiced on our boys when they were younger. When they got to be in their late teens things were a little more critical to them but I was still asked to cut their hair. Now Bethany asked that I do her hair with the color... and all I can say is that we are still on our mission, we still are happily married, and we both maintain our temple recommend status! Her hair looks good and she is as happy as she can be. We will probably do it again in a few more months. (Wish me luck).
This week started out quite interesting in that all of the snow is officially gone, even in the deepest and darkest corners of the city. Since things are warming up and are clean and dry one of our missionaries who is almost finished with is two-year service has begun to "Chalk Draw." Some of you may have seen this procedure in emails that ran rampant a year or so ago about missionaries that draw scenes from the scriptures on sidewalks and as people wander by seeing the artist (the missionary) and the art, they naturally stand and watch and often ask questions. Well, apparently Elder Warren from the Moscow Russia mission has been one of the pioneers, if not, THE pioneer in this method of finding people to teach. I will include a picture that he has done. As I get more photos of his work, I will try and pass them on.
During one of the Chalk Drawing days a week or so ago, we met a young man who was very interested in the work that was being drawn. This young man "Dima" started asking questions of one of the Elders and the next thing you know, he attended all 5 sessions of General Conference and he also invited us to watch one of his practice sessions of American Football. There are 4 Football teams in Moscow. They have just started practicing for the year. We need to get some jerseys sent over here to give them a little variety of what they can wear to practice and games.
Later this week we saw several investigators and we have had wonderful meetings with all of them. Many of them are progressing nicely toward Baptism. We had one baptism this week of the lady who was in my father and mothers branch in Tibilisi, Georgia. I talked about her in my last letter to you last week. Well, she was baptized on Saturday and it was a wonderful experience. She was confirmed today. Her son, who was baptized 3 years ago as a teenager and now lives in Yorba Linda, California is so happy and excited that his mother has made such a good choice. Within about 16 months he will be prepared and eligible to leave on his mission. If all goes well, Svetlana, his mother can go with him to the Temple. Maybe they will both go together for the first time. We will just have to see what the Lord has in store.
Just prior to the Baptism we went to the Marriott Hotel in downtown Moscow and waited for my cousin KLynn and her husband Bob arrive from the U.S. They arrived a few hours delayed because of the Volcano eruption in Iceland (since the Russian flights from the U.S. fly by the tips of Greenland and Iceland). It was such a great experience to see them both here on this side of the world. Bob has agreed to work for the Church as the legal counsel for Eastern European Area. It is a tremendous responsibility and they are assigned to be her for 3-5 years. We had a great time with them (even though they were exhausted) riding on the Metro to get to the Baptism. We talked and had a great time during dinner and talking about what our experiences have been thus far and what they will be in the coming years. They are here for just a few days to get some training and get a feel for what to expect before they arrive officially in mid-June. They are pictured with Bethany and I and Sister Ivanova who was baptized.
It was a wonderful week. Tonight we had a meeting with a member of the church who told her story of her conversion. She was committed to praying 7 times a day at that time in her life. One day she was praying to receive answers to her questions about the gospel and of Jesus Christ. During prayer #6 a knock came to the door and she opened up and there were "two beautiful young men dressed in suits, white shirts, and ties." (her words) She asked them who they were and they answered with their names and "who" they represented and that they had a message for her about Jesus Christ. Her and her husband were baptized shortly thereafter. Her and her husband became very active until recently as their health is beginning to fail them. We have committed to visit them "regularly" as part of the "rescue" effort from President Monson. We will begin to organize the missionaries and ward members to begin routinely visiting them to make sure they have the Church Magazines in their home as well as receiving the sacrament whenever possible.
Once again, I admonish you all to keep us all in your prayers. The work is moving forward at a slow pace but in the past few months has really begun to pick up tremendously. I am convinced that this is the Lords work and we need his divine help to carry it forward. Your prayers, specifically praying for the people here in this area is of great importance.
Sincerely,
Elder and Sister Packard
We have had another fabulous week! It seems as though we are getting more and more busy... by the end of this week we had two to three lessons each day. I want to invite you to come and see our facebook photo album. If you are not on facebook, consider getting on it. You can be on Facebook and still keep your temple recommend. For those who are not on Facebook and still want to see a picture or two I will try and have a few shown on this email.
Our weeks are now pretty much routine and I have mentioned several things that we are doing and people we are working with in previous emails so I won't be quite as detailed in some aspects of our daily routine.
First off, I forgot to mention in this letter last week that since we are on our mission and money is tight all around the world, including Moscow, we decided that we would save the $200 -$250 it would cost to cut and color Bethany's hair and she enlisted my help in making this process happen. As many of you may know, I have cut my own hair for the past 20 years. I learned how to do this from my father's example and my sister Daphne's expertise, and practiced on our boys when they were younger. When they got to be in their late teens things were a little more critical to them but I was still asked to cut their hair. Now Bethany asked that I do her hair with the color... and all I can say is that we are still on our mission, we still are happily married, and we both maintain our temple recommend status! Her hair looks good and she is as happy as she can be. We will probably do it again in a few more months. (Wish me luck).
This week started out quite interesting in that all of the snow is officially gone, even in the deepest and darkest corners of the city. Since things are warming up and are clean and dry one of our missionaries who is almost finished with is two-year service has begun to "Chalk Draw." Some of you may have seen this procedure in emails that ran rampant a year or so ago about missionaries that draw scenes from the scriptures on sidewalks and as people wander by seeing the artist (the missionary) and the art, they naturally stand and watch and often ask questions. Well, apparently Elder Warren from the Moscow Russia mission has been one of the pioneers, if not, THE pioneer in this method of finding people to teach. I will include a picture that he has done. As I get more photos of his work, I will try and pass them on.
During one of the Chalk Drawing days a week or so ago, we met a young man who was very interested in the work that was being drawn. This young man "Dima" started asking questions of one of the Elders and the next thing you know, he attended all 5 sessions of General Conference and he also invited us to watch one of his practice sessions of American Football. There are 4 Football teams in Moscow. They have just started practicing for the year. We need to get some jerseys sent over here to give them a little variety of what they can wear to practice and games.
Later this week we saw several investigators and we have had wonderful meetings with all of them. Many of them are progressing nicely toward Baptism. We had one baptism this week of the lady who was in my father and mothers branch in Tibilisi, Georgia. I talked about her in my last letter to you last week. Well, she was baptized on Saturday and it was a wonderful experience. She was confirmed today. Her son, who was baptized 3 years ago as a teenager and now lives in Yorba Linda, California is so happy and excited that his mother has made such a good choice. Within about 16 months he will be prepared and eligible to leave on his mission. If all goes well, Svetlana, his mother can go with him to the Temple. Maybe they will both go together for the first time. We will just have to see what the Lord has in store.
Just prior to the Baptism we went to the Marriott Hotel in downtown Moscow and waited for my cousin KLynn and her husband Bob arrive from the U.S. They arrived a few hours delayed because of the Volcano eruption in Iceland (since the Russian flights from the U.S. fly by the tips of Greenland and Iceland). It was such a great experience to see them both here on this side of the world. Bob has agreed to work for the Church as the legal counsel for Eastern European Area. It is a tremendous responsibility and they are assigned to be her for 3-5 years. We had a great time with them (even though they were exhausted) riding on the Metro to get to the Baptism. We talked and had a great time during dinner and talking about what our experiences have been thus far and what they will be in the coming years. They are here for just a few days to get some training and get a feel for what to expect before they arrive officially in mid-June. They are pictured with Bethany and I and Sister Ivanova who was baptized.
It was a wonderful week. Tonight we had a meeting with a member of the church who told her story of her conversion. She was committed to praying 7 times a day at that time in her life. One day she was praying to receive answers to her questions about the gospel and of Jesus Christ. During prayer #6 a knock came to the door and she opened up and there were "two beautiful young men dressed in suits, white shirts, and ties." (her words) She asked them who they were and they answered with their names and "who" they represented and that they had a message for her about Jesus Christ. Her and her husband were baptized shortly thereafter. Her and her husband became very active until recently as their health is beginning to fail them. We have committed to visit them "regularly" as part of the "rescue" effort from President Monson. We will begin to organize the missionaries and ward members to begin routinely visiting them to make sure they have the Church Magazines in their home as well as receiving the sacrament whenever possible.
Once again, I admonish you all to keep us all in your prayers. The work is moving forward at a slow pace but in the past few months has really begun to pick up tremendously. I am convinced that this is the Lords work and we need his divine help to carry it forward. Your prayers, specifically praying for the people here in this area is of great importance.
Sincerely,
Elder and Sister Packard
Monday, April 12, 2010
4-12-10
Dear Family and Friends,
I think it has been a few weeks since I last wrote about the goings on here in Moscow, Russia. We have had such busy days and weeks, we can hardly keep up. If you have not had the opportunity to read any of my previous letters, that is just ok, but we are grateful that you take the time to read and ponder the thoughts and happenings that have transpired here in the mission field and this part of the Lords Kingdom.
Since my last posting, the Metro bombings have past and things have quieted down and all is back to normal. As many of you may have heard, however, things here are a bit "testy" due to the recent airline crash in Russia of a Russian Airline in a Russian City, where decades ago, 10's of thousands of Polish military and others were massacred by Russians. This plane crash had about 100 on board and 90 or so were Polish dignitaries and prominent Polish citizens who were going to this memorial service of what had happened to their people so many years ago. Now their countries' leaders were dead and like I said, things are a little "testy" over here now. I know that there is not any real reason to blame the Russians, but needless to say, the Russian people are a little concerned how the government is going to handle this situation.
It seems that like the movie series "Men in Black" it's just once galactic crisis after another over here.
We have had a wonderful past few weeks. The sun is out, the place is beginning to warm up and as of the last few weeks, listed below are a few interesting and welcomed/unwelcomed sights and sounds since we have been here in Russia these past 2 months. Here is a short list.
1. We heard birds singing for the first time just a few short weeks ago.
2. Motorcycles are on the road now.
3. There are inches of dust and debris all over the roadways and sidewalks.
4. The snow is all but gone "everywhere!"
5. No more gloves or scarves needed to go outside.
6. We have gone out without our coats in the last couple of days.
7. There are more children in Russia than we have seen in the past 2 months.
8. There is actually grass and bushes in the parks.
9. I have found out where all of the Russians who smoke put their cigarette butts.
10.The sun does actually shine here in Moscow.
In the past few weeks we have had wonderful experiences meeting with investigators, members, and missionaries. As was mentioned in my last letter, we had such a wonderful experience with the number of investigators that attended church with us. We had 5 of our own and the rest of our district had 6 others. This past week (Easter Sunday) we had 3 from the previous 5 that attended and it was wonderful. For those of you who have interest, Paulina was one of them that returned. In fact, she was playing the piano for church which was a wonderful sight. Your prayers for her are so very welcomed. Another investigator that attended again was Svetlana Ivanova. This wonderful lady is an investigator from my parents in Tibilisi, Georgia. Her son was baptized about 3 years ago and apparently she wasn't too happy about it. Since that time, she apparently has been attending church in Georgia fairly regularly, even though her son has moved to the U.S. and is attending school and the Church in California. In a conversation with Dad and Mom, Dad said, "Chad, just baptize her. She attends her meetings, she loves the Church, and she knows in her heart it is true, so just get her baptized." After Easter Sunday sacrament meeting she committed to be baptized if I would be the one to baptize her. What an honor for me. So now we need to teach her "officially" the lessons. She will be baptized on the 17th of April. This Saturday we had our first lessons with her. She has a very good spirit and she is agreeable to the doctrine we teach. Now I just need to learn the baptismal prayer in Russian. YIKES!!! Thank Goodness, the Lord has kept all of his ordinance prayers short and simple!
We have another investigator that seems to be progressing nicely. His name is Alexander (keep him in your prayers too!). I won't go into his story at this point but just remember him and hopefully we will have him as a member of the Lords Church sometime soon.
Again, we want to thank all of you for your continued thoughts and prayers. We see the Lords hand firmly but gently guiding this work along. It is extremely difficult to do here. Every aspect of it is challenging. If you were to ask Elder Larry Gibbons of the Seventy, or any other church leader who has worked over here, I am confident that they would confirm it.
I would also like you all to consider praying for the "elect" to manifest themselves to the missionaries here in this area. A short story: Immediately after the bombings we were in "lock down" if you recall. Once released from that the next day, we were still under restrictions for some missionary efforts. Two things in particular were requested by the Area Presidency. 1. No wearing of Missionary Tags and 2. No contacting people on the Metro or the street. In other words we could not initiate conversations with people about the gospel. If they contacted us, we could then speak to them but we were not allowed to discuss the church or the gospel of Jesus Christ by initiating a conversation with anyone.
Normally in this mission we get 15-18 new investigators each week. During the week of the "lock-down" and No Tags or Contacting people, we obtained 24 new investigators.... It was amazing to here stories from the missionaries about people just walking up to them and asking them about the Church and the Lord's gospel with really no way of knowing them specifically as missionaries due to them not wearing their missionary tags. One Elder was on a split with a member of his branch who was in street clothes when all of the sudden a man came running, yes running up to him pleading for the missionary give him a Liahona! The Elder didn't have one but gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon instead. Apparently this man had been introduced to the church in some other place and had a few copies of the Liahona given to him in the past. This elder was shocked that this man could pick him out of a crowd of people as a lone missionary that might have a Lianhona in his possession. (Landon, this was Elder Morgan's experience. He is one of the Assistants to the President right now).
So with that said... please pray for the Lord's elect to make themselves known to the missionaries by approaching them in some way.
Thanks so very much for all you do to further this work and help build the Lord's Kingdom.
I am going to try and have some additional pictures placed on our blog (chadandbethanypackard.blogspot.com). Sorry that we haven't updated it in a while. We have taken quite a few more pictures and some of you are wanting to see them. If you are not a friend on facebook, become one and you can see many, if not most of them there as well.
We love you all and thank you again for all you do.
Love,
Elder and Sister Packard
I think it has been a few weeks since I last wrote about the goings on here in Moscow, Russia. We have had such busy days and weeks, we can hardly keep up. If you have not had the opportunity to read any of my previous letters, that is just ok, but we are grateful that you take the time to read and ponder the thoughts and happenings that have transpired here in the mission field and this part of the Lords Kingdom.
Since my last posting, the Metro bombings have past and things have quieted down and all is back to normal. As many of you may have heard, however, things here are a bit "testy" due to the recent airline crash in Russia of a Russian Airline in a Russian City, where decades ago, 10's of thousands of Polish military and others were massacred by Russians. This plane crash had about 100 on board and 90 or so were Polish dignitaries and prominent Polish citizens who were going to this memorial service of what had happened to their people so many years ago. Now their countries' leaders were dead and like I said, things are a little "testy" over here now. I know that there is not any real reason to blame the Russians, but needless to say, the Russian people are a little concerned how the government is going to handle this situation.
It seems that like the movie series "Men in Black" it's just once galactic crisis after another over here.
We have had a wonderful past few weeks. The sun is out, the place is beginning to warm up and as of the last few weeks, listed below are a few interesting and welcomed/unwelcomed sights and sounds since we have been here in Russia these past 2 months. Here is a short list.
1. We heard birds singing for the first time just a few short weeks ago.
2. Motorcycles are on the road now.
3. There are inches of dust and debris all over the roadways and sidewalks.
4. The snow is all but gone "everywhere!"
5. No more gloves or scarves needed to go outside.
6. We have gone out without our coats in the last couple of days.
7. There are more children in Russia than we have seen in the past 2 months.
8. There is actually grass and bushes in the parks.
9. I have found out where all of the Russians who smoke put their cigarette butts.
10.The sun does actually shine here in Moscow.
In the past few weeks we have had wonderful experiences meeting with investigators, members, and missionaries. As was mentioned in my last letter, we had such a wonderful experience with the number of investigators that attended church with us. We had 5 of our own and the rest of our district had 6 others. This past week (Easter Sunday) we had 3 from the previous 5 that attended and it was wonderful. For those of you who have interest, Paulina was one of them that returned. In fact, she was playing the piano for church which was a wonderful sight. Your prayers for her are so very welcomed. Another investigator that attended again was Svetlana Ivanova. This wonderful lady is an investigator from my parents in Tibilisi, Georgia. Her son was baptized about 3 years ago and apparently she wasn't too happy about it. Since that time, she apparently has been attending church in Georgia fairly regularly, even though her son has moved to the U.S. and is attending school and the Church in California. In a conversation with Dad and Mom, Dad said, "Chad, just baptize her. She attends her meetings, she loves the Church, and she knows in her heart it is true, so just get her baptized." After Easter Sunday sacrament meeting she committed to be baptized if I would be the one to baptize her. What an honor for me. So now we need to teach her "officially" the lessons. She will be baptized on the 17th of April. This Saturday we had our first lessons with her. She has a very good spirit and she is agreeable to the doctrine we teach. Now I just need to learn the baptismal prayer in Russian. YIKES!!! Thank Goodness, the Lord has kept all of his ordinance prayers short and simple!
We have another investigator that seems to be progressing nicely. His name is Alexander (keep him in your prayers too!). I won't go into his story at this point but just remember him and hopefully we will have him as a member of the Lords Church sometime soon.
Again, we want to thank all of you for your continued thoughts and prayers. We see the Lords hand firmly but gently guiding this work along. It is extremely difficult to do here. Every aspect of it is challenging. If you were to ask Elder Larry Gibbons of the Seventy, or any other church leader who has worked over here, I am confident that they would confirm it.
I would also like you all to consider praying for the "elect" to manifest themselves to the missionaries here in this area. A short story: Immediately after the bombings we were in "lock down" if you recall. Once released from that the next day, we were still under restrictions for some missionary efforts. Two things in particular were requested by the Area Presidency. 1. No wearing of Missionary Tags and 2. No contacting people on the Metro or the street. In other words we could not initiate conversations with people about the gospel. If they contacted us, we could then speak to them but we were not allowed to discuss the church or the gospel of Jesus Christ by initiating a conversation with anyone.
Normally in this mission we get 15-18 new investigators each week. During the week of the "lock-down" and No Tags or Contacting people, we obtained 24 new investigators.... It was amazing to here stories from the missionaries about people just walking up to them and asking them about the Church and the Lord's gospel with really no way of knowing them specifically as missionaries due to them not wearing their missionary tags. One Elder was on a split with a member of his branch who was in street clothes when all of the sudden a man came running, yes running up to him pleading for the missionary give him a Liahona! The Elder didn't have one but gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon instead. Apparently this man had been introduced to the church in some other place and had a few copies of the Liahona given to him in the past. This elder was shocked that this man could pick him out of a crowd of people as a lone missionary that might have a Lianhona in his possession. (Landon, this was Elder Morgan's experience. He is one of the Assistants to the President right now).
So with that said... please pray for the Lord's elect to make themselves known to the missionaries by approaching them in some way.
Thanks so very much for all you do to further this work and help build the Lord's Kingdom.
I am going to try and have some additional pictures placed on our blog (chadandbethanypackard.blogspot.com). Sorry that we haven't updated it in a while. We have taken quite a few more pictures and some of you are wanting to see them. If you are not a friend on facebook, become one and you can see many, if not most of them there as well.
We love you all and thank you again for all you do.
Love,
Elder and Sister Packard
Thursday, April 1, 2010
I have attached a link below from Russian Television (RT) here in Moscow that describes the incident this morning. The video that is part of the local broadcast will give you an idea of how many people ride the metro each and every day. If you have challenges with this link...just go to www.rt.com ; it should be in English.
We are well and fine. We did not hear anything this morning when the blasts occurred. We are about a 20 minute walk from one of the sites which is close to the Kremlin. the blasts occurred deep underground.
http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-03-29/moscow-metro-blast-victims.html#
Moscow Bombings
Below is the Fox News link revealing the information that has just come out about 2 bomb blasts that occurred just about 2 hours ago here in Moscow. The blasts occurred a few miles away from our home in two separate Metro (subway) stations, killing up to 40+ people. We did not hear any blast and have not been affected in any way by the bombings at this point. We are safe and are under "lockdown" by the mission president.
Your continued prayers are welcomed.
Love,
Chad and Bethany
http://www.google.com/url?url=http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/03/29/blast-moscow-metro-kills/&rct=j&ei=HzmwS9ynMZiEmgO976E0&sa=X&oi=news_article&resnum=1&ct=result&cd=1&ved=0CDQQqQIoAjAA&q=bomb+in+moscow&usg=AFQjCNFDssIyh0c6TP2H2FTdmGUtrTZgOA
Your continued prayers are welcomed.
Love,
Chad and Bethany
http://www.google.com/url?url=http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/03/29/blast-moscow-metro-kills/&rct=j&ei=HzmwS9ynMZiEmgO976E0&sa=X&oi=news_article&resnum=1&ct=result&cd=1&ved=0CDQQqQIoAjAA&q=bomb+in+moscow&usg=AFQjCNFDssIyh0c6TP2H2FTdmGUtrTZgOA
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