Unto the ends of the earth

Jeanie- todays tender mercy
.  Wow!  Is this one amazing church!
We are in on the far north reaches of Moscow in the Zelongrad Ward.  We arrived after taking two busses.  What a joy to enter the lovely building and feel the familiar warmth& affirmation that we felt last week in Kaysville & we feel in L Rock & every building dedicated to helping build His kingdom.    As we stood talking in the foyer before the meeting began, we were enveloped in the love of theses good people, faithful & strong, speaking no english with the few exceptions of missionaries & RMs who served in the US.
The bishop, who speaks English well, asked where we were from.  We haven't found anyone who knows where arkansas is, unless they are from America. The bishop said, "of course I know where arkansas is, we fought you guys in the Cold War.  We knew where all of your bases are."   How strange to think that these warm, loving people were once considered our "enemies".  Yesterday we took the metro to Gorky Park, sit of so much history.  A gigantic statue of Lenin overlooks the park. We went with 2 other missionary couples.  Because my darling companion is always guiding me where we should go, I feel free to look at people.  I'm trying to really LOOK at as many people as I can.  I want to try to see thei worth & connect if I can, if only a bit.
In sac Mtng, As we attempted to sing the hymns, heard the same sacrament prayers (I assume), partook of the bread & water, i felt such gratitude for the Lords blessings in allowing us to renew our covenants in, what to me is the "end of the earth".  Obviously, to them, Arkansas would be the end of the earth.  We all love our home but our covenants unite us.
Sac talks were well prepared and delivered with the spirit, although I understood very little.  Its summer so shirts & blouses are thinner. I'm observing that almost all of the adults I see (I'm sitting in the back) appear to be wearing temple garments.  All of this has occurred in abt 20 yrs.  the work is truly hastening & I feel so blessed to be a small part of it.
Sunday school is the satellite broadcast we watched last week in Kaysville but Elder Holland is talking funny.  The choir is always wonderful to hear.  I can't believe that was just 1 week ago. I seems like a month.