CONFERENCES

Wednesday evening we took a night train to Novosibirsk for a zone conference on Friday. The senior couples get to go in a day early rather than get off the train and head straight to the zone conference all bleary eyed--they know these high priest elders won't make it through all the sessions without a good night's sleep.  :~) We enjoyed seeing a lot of the missionaries we've served with in the past. It was a lot of fun to meet up with so many of those we haven't seen since they were transferred away from our cities--or at least since the last zone conference. We were impressed with how much some of them have matured in a few short months.

Elder/President Bennett is a member of the new area presidency and has been touring the mission. He and his wife were here for the zone conference. They shared good stories but also, along with President Gibbons, challenged the missionaries to cast off some bad habits and align themselves more closely with the guidelines and rules in the missionary handbook. There were even a few changes, like holding the weekly district meetings at the branch building instead of at the senior couples' apartment and not having a meal after. We were so pleased to see the missionaries step up and agree to follow the new standards.

The young missionaries headed home Friday night, but the senior couples were invited to stay for the District Conference on Sunday. This is the first District Conference since the Novosibirsk District was organized 6 months ago.

District President Ozhereliev

People from two of the branches attended the meetings while those in the outlying areas joined in by video broadcast. We've enjoyed seeing the Church grow from 3 smaller districts to one large "Preparatory District" (preparing to become a stake).

A choir of Russians sang during the Conference. Up until now we've only seen the missionaries sing a special musical number.

It was announced that a stake in Saint Petersburg was formed today. The first stake in Russia was formed a year ago in June. We're hoping Novosibirsk will soon be the third stake.

We've spent a lot of time this weekend with the other senior couples. It's been so delightful! The office couple, Randall and Susan Webb, have had us to their home for meals and visiting a couple of times. It's been so refreshing to be with English-speaking peers, however brief.

Elder and Sister Webb (Cashmere--by Wenatchee--Washington), Sister Sharon and Elder Bart Holmes (Payson, Utah), Elder Frank Noel (Ogden, Utah), Us (Salt Lake City, Utah)

Sister Noel took the picture and said she would Photoshop herself in. Since we don't know how to do that, we'll just have to wait for her to send us a copy.

We were able to snap this picture from the Holmes' hotel window--a beautiful sunset over the river.

This week's Russianism:
There's a lot of English influence here, both British and American. For example, we often see signs that are a combination of English and Russian, like this:

We know it's in English because we can make sense out of the top line and because they don't have R, S, or L in the Cyrillic alphabet. In Russian it says this is a jewelry boutique.