The picture is of the Rechnoy Ward Primary leaders after the baptism, explaining more about the covenant Sophia had made and the power of the gift of the Holy Ghost in her life. We have some of the best teachers in the church here in Russia.
Ben, Tamara, the girls and the grandparents came to our apartment for dinner a few days later. We love this family.
Saturday evening we were in the Zelenograd chapel for the baptism of 5 eight- year-old children. The fathers of two of the children were blessed to baptize their own children.
Sweet Anya, the only girl, was baptized by her grandfather and the twins were baptized by their uncle. The father of the twins passed away a few years ago.
The confirmations were done either by a father, uncle or family friend. This is a super close ward with strong priesthood leadership The whole ward loves and supports each other.
In both baptism experiences, we felt the same powerful spirit that we have felt in any baptism anywhere. These sweet children are putting their feet firmly on the path of testimony and covenant keeping.
THE ADVENTURE OF LANGUAGE...
We have given up on learning the language. We can bear our testimony and pray but that isn't a ton of help when you are frantically trying to make yourself understood in a store or food stand.
A week or two ago I stopped at a fabric store. We were having dinner guests and a hint of spring was in the air. I wanted a bright, colorful printed fabric tablecloth. I have no clue how the money works here so I just grabbed something bright and hauled it to the cutting table. The sweet clerk was obviously shocked when I asked for 4 yards (I was making matching napkins) so I just started pulling the fabric out from the bolt. Fortunately, she did not need to cut it because there was almost exactly the right amount. I was so proud of myself for doing this whole transaction without the aid of Elder Pierson. My pride turned to horror when she turned the calculator around and showed me the total. 4,265 RUBLES! About 140.00! I showed her my measly 1500 rubles and slunk out of the store, without the fabric.
She was so nice that we made cookies and returned to the small shop a few days later. Unfortunately, there was a different clerk who was obviously horrified as I shoved my Monster cookies at her, jabbering English.
I was desperate for an English speaker. I ran from one little shop to another with no connection. Finally, I tackled a high schooler who answered "yes" with a smile. I dragged him back to the shop (Elder Pierson was still madly trying to get something working on Google Translate) Our 16 year old whiz was able to help our bewildered clerk get the gist, although I'm pretty sure neither she nor our young scholar understood the whole story.
Such is our life. We often end up with the wrong item, too much food, confused directions or unclear expectations. But more than anything, we feel an overwhelming love for these people and I think they know it. We just shrug and we all laugh together.
By the way, we looked at the ceiling in a new restaurant and saw this. Is there anyone else in Moscow who would have a clue where this is?
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