January Baptisms

There hasn't been much to write about lately. Maybe the January blahs are the same everywhere. Surviving the cold and not breaking our necks on the icy, snowy streets has been formost on our minds for the past few weeks. I don't know how we were so lucky as to be here during a record cold and snow winter. It's probably because I was so hung up on going to 'somewhere warm.' The temperature has been below zero for at least three weeks, usually between 9 and 15 below. I keep thinking of the obituary that could run in the Rexburg paper with the heading, "Local Missionary Couple Impaled With Icicles in Russia." The icicles have gotten so dangerous that there have been men up on all the city roofs chopping them down. We are told that the men they hire have to have a license to climb to go up there. But here is a picture of a beautiful, frosty day. I loved the frosty filigree on the palace fence.

We had a dirty trick played on us on Saturday. We were out late, having been to dinner at one of our friend's place. So it was just after 10 pm and we had to wait in the cold about 15 minutes for our second bus. We were about frozen by the time it came. Then, about a third of the way home we realized that the driver wasn't taking the usual route for some unknown reason. Maybe because it was after 10 pm? Who knows? Anyway, we could see that he wasn't going to go down our street. Yikes!! There was nothing to do but get off and walk. So here we were at night, at minus 15 degrees, hoofing it home. Suffice it to say that we were a couple of popsicles by the time we got there!

We did have some heartwarming hours before that, though. We went to two baptisms. And there was one the week before. That's pretty unusual. We haven't heard the total for this past year but in 2008 there were only 44 baptisms in this whole mission. We were told that was the lowest in the whole Europe East area. Certainly nothing to be proud of. And I know our missionaries are out there working hard.

One of the baptisms was a Nigerian guy. We now have 6 or 7 West Africans recently baptized. They all attend the same branch so they can have a Sunday School class in English. We still love those black faces and love talking to each one as the elders always bring them to meet us. They are so humble and receptive to the gospel.

The other baptism was a cute, fiftyish sister in our branch. Svetlana has been a faithful 'dry member' for 12 years now, just waiting for her husband to give her permission to be baptized. Practially the whole branch turned out for her baptism. Soon after we got here last spring Lou and I went with some other branch members out to their dacha (country home) and helped do some spring cleanup in their yard. Then we had a bar b'cue. Her husband speaks pretty good English and we enjoyed talking with him. They said that was the first time he had agreed to have any of the members of the church come visit them. After her baptism Svetlana told us, "When you came to work with us on May 1st I felt your faith was so strong and I knew that I would be baptized while you were here." We are thrilled that we got to see it happen. That is the kind of day that makes this all worthwhile.