Serving in a Winter wonderland Dec 17, 2010

Dear Family,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! С ДНЁМ РОЖДЕНИЯ!! I hope that you are having an amazing birthday and enjoying every second of it. I hope that all is well there in San Diego as it is here. The weather is cold here but we are warm with the spirit as we feel the joy of this work mixed with the spirit of the season. I can't believe that Christmas is just around the corner. Next Friday wow! By the way our Preparation Day will be on Friday so don't be alarmed thinking that I froze to death because a letter did not get sent on Thursday. The letter will come telling you were I will be serving with my new missionary for next transfer. A huge group of missionaries are taking off on Monday and the new missionaries will come in on Tuesday. I can't describe how grateful I am that I am not going home on Monday. Nothing against you all but I am just not ready for that and so I am extremely grateful that the Lord has given me more time. I was talking with Elder Holm this week and it was interestring to talk with him because we both related that we have the same feelings that we are still needed here. We are not done yet. I am so excited!

This has been an amazing week as we have been blessed and seen miracles. I am so grateful to be serving where I am serving and with whom I am serving. We had a meeting with Steve this Sunday and things are going great with him. We made some brownies with a member and dropped them off to him on Friday of last week but unfortunately Steve was not home. He was very appreciative for the brownies though when we came by on Sunday night. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation and it went really well./ He has some really good questions that show us that he is really thinking about these things. We were really glad to hear that he has been reading the Book of Mormon and enjoying it. He told us about how he read about Nephi, Lehi and Laban. He wanted to know why Laban had the scriptures but was still just a bad man. It was so much fun to be able to talk with him about it. We asked him if he had prayed about it and he told us no and was kind of confused about the question because he considers the Book of Mormon to be true and didn't really understand the need to pray about it. I'm sure that you could just imagine our response, " Uh...That's great! But the only reason that we ask is so that you can have a confirmation from Heavenly Father of it's truthfulness." He agreed to pray about it. I am so excited for him but the only problem is that he watches the baby on Sunday when we have church, we told him to bring him along but he said that he has never traveled with him before. So a little problem there but we will see how we can overcome it with them help of the Lord. I really do love Steve and want the best for him and his family, they are all so great and so we will see what the Lord has in store.

The week would not be completed without the interesting moment of the week. We were contacting on Thursday night and everything was going well until we experienced a little trouble with some drunk people. Elder Hunt contacted a man who turned out to be drunk and immediately hit him/grabbed him by the throat. Elder Hunt was a champ and didn't do anything. He is a relaxed missionary and so the problem did not turn into more than a quick scuffle. We shoved the guy off of him and told them that we didn't any of that and they were not too happy with us. There were four of them and they said some words to us and we turned to leave. They yelled at us and I thought that they would chase us but fortunately that didn't happen. I am sure that the Lord was protecteting us and I am really grateful for that. I have never felt scared on the street before. This situation was a little unnerving because I really didn't want a fight to break out but I wasn't scared. I know that the Lord is watching over us and has His angels nearby. I know that we are always being protected.

On Tuesday night we were walking the streets contacting when we had an amazing experience. In the beginning of the transfer we tried to call a man named Alexander. He had been to church two times and been reading the Book of Mormon, but unfortunately his phone was switched off. We called and called but his phone never worked. We decided to put him in the formers and occassionaly called but it was to no avail. But while we were on the street on Tuesday I contacted a man and started to talk to him when Elder Hunt came up and said in a bewildered voice, "Alexander!?!" Yep, it was our Alexander. The first thing he said was, "Hey! Why haven't you called?" We told him that his phone was turned off and he told us that his phone worked just fine and then had us write down his number again. Someone had made a mistake on writing his number on the teaching record. He told us that he is reading the Book of Mormon and wants us to call. As we walked away Elder Hunt and I just looked at eachother in disbelief knowing how many people there are in St. Petersburg and we had "just happened" to run into the one that we needed. I know that the Lord directs this work and that He knows where each of His children are and can place his servants at just the right places. This experience has strengthened my faith and testimony of this work.

Well times up! I love you all and am so grateful for all of you. Let me know how you want the phone call to work. If you want I can buy a phone card here. Let me know. I am way excited!

Love,

Elder Dean

Dear Family- April 30, 2009

Dear Family,
Hey!! How are each of you doing? I hope that you are doing amazing. It is always really hard to go from sending President Podvodov a letter to then go back into typing in english because on the keyboard there are both alphabets and so needless to say it gets pretty confusing sometimes, so sorry if there are some mistakes that I make and forget to correct. Well, I just got on the internet and had a letter waiting for me from Derek Bramwell telling me that he got to see you and that he hopefully will be coming over this week. That sounds like so much fun! Hopefully you enjoyed his homecoming talk and he didn't say anything that would scare you.
Well this has been quite a week, really, a lot has gone on and I have been so excited to write and to tell you about it. I guess I'll start out at last Saturday-the day that Sofia was baptized. It was such a good day and the baptism went amazing. There were quite a few people there to support and so that what great to see. The Sisters did a great job planning everything and getting it all organized so that the spirit was able to be there. She was so excited and was so happy to be dressed in white knowing that she was doing the right thing. As we were walking to the room where the service was going to take place I asked her how she was feeling. She said, " I feel so peaceful, there hasn't been anything that has brought me bad feelings that I shouldn't be doing this, just peaceful, it's almost unnatural how calm and peaceful I feel." Way cool! The Branch President conducted the meeting and after a few talks and songs we all made our way towards the baptismal font. Something that they do here which is kind of different is that they kind of have a musical number at the font. Nothing elaborate, but really simple. This time there were three sisters off to the corner singing "All Creatures of Our God and King" while everybody gathered around the font. After the song was finished, Sofia came down into the water and was baptized. When she was baptized she came up with the biggest smile on her face and was even laughing from joy. After the baptism I put out my hand and shook hers and said, "Sister Sofia, I congratulate you" she just laughed with a big smile and said thank you. The rest of the meeting went great and there were some great sincere testimonies born. The one that had the greatest effect on me was from her friend Sister Tatiana who has been there with Sofia on all the lessons. She said, "Its one thing for someone to be baptized but it makes it all the better when it is one of your relatives" (they are sister-in-laws) and then she looked at Sofia and became a little emotional and said, "We'll do this Sofia-together-every step of the way" It was way cool and the spirit was certainly present. And then on Sunday right after the District Conference a large group of members gathered together in a room and there we opened with song and prayer and then she received the Holy Ghost. The Branch President gave her a great blessing reassuring her of the love that that branch has for her. After the blessing she stood up with tears in her eyes and thanked everyone in the circle and then we closed with a hymn and prayer. Again the spirit was strong as the ordinance was performed by Heavenly Father's priesthood. Oh my! I love being on a mission and am so grateful for the opportunities that the Lord has blessed me with. Faith is powerfulI-I know it, that is how miracles are performed. I don't understand it perfectly but I am gaining a further understanding of which I am very grateful. Had a vist from President Paul of the Seventy this week and his wife and it was amazing. I wish I had more time but I have got to go.
Love you all,
Elder Dean

Писмо от Ст. Дина-23.04.09

Dear Family,
Hey! How is everyone doing? I hope that you are all doing well and enjoying the warmth wherever you are at. The time goes by so fast and I can hardly believe that is Thursday again already. I read a letter from Dad this morning while I was getting a haircut and it sounds like we have a new addition to the family or as he put it "temporary". That sounds like fun, how does Sadie like it? She is probally not too hot on the idea of having to share Mom. Also that is prety exciting to be having Sisters from Temple Square coming. I am sure that they will be bring a real fire for the work, (and hopefully a full list of refferals!) but yea- that is way exciting! And if the Elders ever come over again and hang-out like they did, ask them if they saw and remeber seeing any films in the MTC from a talk from Elder Bednar. That should bring them a quick reminder of what they are supposed to be doing in member's homes.
As far as things go here I guess that I need to catch you up a bit. So i got transferred again and I am now serving in the area of Nevsky. It is the south east part of St. Pete's and there is a strong branch here. I am working with an Elder Nash, from Ephrata, Washington.(Have you heard of it Michicko?) It is his last transfer and so to be perfectley honest with you I was pretty nervous to be working with him, fearing that Trunkiness would interfere with his desire to work, but I am so very grateful to say that that is not the case. He is ready to work and I am so excited about this transfer. President really wants us to be focusing on having lessons inside homes and has set a goal for evey companionship to have 15. That probally does not mean much for all of you but in our mission that is a hard thing to do, but we have a goal and we are going to continue working at it until we accomplish it and hope that it can continue on from there. But really, I am so excited about this transfer, we fasted on Tuesday asking for the Lord's help this transfer and I know that there is so much power to be found in Fasting, Prayer, Faith, and consecrated work and so I am excited to see what the Lord has in store. Elder Nash is about my heigth, brown hair and always a big smile. He actually reminds me a lot of Brian Iufer and so it is kind of like serving with him and so needless to say-it is a lot of fun.
Before I forget, don't forget about Elder Bramwell's (or I guess it is Derek's) homecoming talk this Sunday, Hopefully Dad has already gotten in touch with his Dad and knows all of the details. Maybe you can even invite him and his parents over for dinner to get to know him a bit better and so that he can tell you about our mission. I'm so excited for you to meet him.
Last Friday we had a meeting with Sofia. We went because her apartment is really hard to find and so we showed the Sisters how to get there. It was such a great meeting! We walked in to find a table set up with tea cups, and Sofia announced that since it was my last day that we had to drink tea! She poured us all some tea and then brought out a huge cake that she had made for us that was really delicious. After talking for awhile, she warmed up to the Sisters and they did a lesson on Miracles. They started out by asking Sofia what miracles are and with out missiong a beat she told them that her quitting smoking had been a miracle. (I was so excited to hear that!) and she went on to explain, that it really was a miracle-that she had been smoking for a really long time and that she had made three concentrated efforts before to quit smoking and she had not been able to do it. She then said that thanks to the Lord and the Elders she had been able to do it this time. The Lord has blessed her so much and I am amazed at how ready she is to follow him. She has been such a strong example to me and I am excited for the day that you can all meet her. This church is true. There is no doubt in mind about it and I will glady spend all my days declaring it. It is hard at times to see people reject it so quickly and without any thought but I know that the Lord loves each of these-his children so much andd will continue to work with them in hopes that they will one day accept him and all that he has already done for them. Keep doing what you know is right. It puts a smile on the Lord's face when he sees us following him by choosing the right, so keep doing it. I love you all, I miss you like crazy but am grateful where I am and for who's work I am trying to do.

Love,
Elder Corbin Dean

Dear Family- April 16, 2009

Dear Family,
How are all of you doing? From your letters it sounds like you are all doing well and enjoying life, and I am so grateful to hear that. Well a lot has happened this week and so I will get started right away. First of all, I hadn't heard anything about Cass and Ammon moving down to San Diego-That is so exciting!! I really don't know any details so if anyone wants to fill me in that would be great. I was so excited when I heard that I was telling everyone this week, that my whole family is going to be back together in San Diego for who knows how long with my brother and his family just an hour away. That is so exciting. I told Elder Clement and he told me the exact same thing, that all of his family is moving to St. George, he had already told me that but the latest news was that his sister Cassidy (what a quin-ki-dink) is also moving to St. George with her family from California. Anyway that sounds like a lot of fun and I hope that all of the moving goes smoothly.
Next-How amazing was conference! I loved it. We watch it a week later here and all the english speakers watch it in the Relief society room on the second floor and the Russian Sessions go on in the Chapel on the third floor. I could go on and on about what I enjoyed and noticed but I really found it impressive that (in my own thinking) that the three major topics that were talked about and repeated time and time again were 1. You are not alone (mainly referencing to times in trials) 2. Follow the Prophets 3. Go to the Temple. I don't know how it was for each of you but I really felt those three over and over again. When Elder Bednar told the church that those who have not been to the temple in quite awhile need to repent and return to the temple, I turned to Elders Holm and Croskrey and said, "Elders..." and they just turned and started laughing. It is hard to not have the opportunity to not visit the temple in such a long time but it really does make you appreciative of the blessing that it is. there is power to be found there if we will take the time to go and do that unselfish work for others. I look forward to going there again to feel the fruits of the spirit and hope that I will never lose vision of the importance of those sacred buildings. I have always been grateful for the fact that I have always been able to say, "I am from San Diego and I live 15 minutes from the beach" but within this last 15 months I have grown in my appreciation and have come to a realization of the blessing that it is to say that I live 15 minutes away from the San Diego temple. Surely I don't understand it all but the appreciation and understanding is growing. Before conference I wrote down and prayed about three answers that I wanted answered and I am so grateful to say that the answers came. The lord hears and answers our sincere prayers.
During the break between sessions on Sunday some told me that Sveta wanted to say hi but Sonya was afraid to come inside the room where we were. I went outside the room with Elder Croskrey and little Sonya just came sprinting up, "Elder Dean, Lift me, Lift me!!!" and Sveta was there just smiling and telling Sofia that now was not the time. They are doing really well and it is amazing to see that she still has the glow of the gospel surrounding her. It was nice to be able to chat with her for awhile. Sonya said, " Elder Dean, come over this Wednesday, Ok!" I told her that I couldn't and Sveta explained why, it was such a blessing to see them.
Also I have to admit that I could not help to think about Ammon and about how excited he must have been when Elder Uchtdorf announced that his story would be about, "Aviation!"
Next-We had a meeting with Sofia on Tuesday morning. We came in as usual, sat down. We then asked how she was doing and how she felt. She got a big smile on her face as she said that she answered, she said, "I feel amazing! I haven't smoked since you left!(speaking about last friday) and then she went on to tell us how much she appreciated conference. It was amazing and we all just kind of sat there and then she said, "No words?" and we just nodded our heads until we were able to open up and tell her how amazing that was. She said that it has been hard but she id doing it! Absolutely amazing! I know that it is an answer to many prayers fasts and the concentrated effort on her part. Again, I know that the Lord answers our prayers, (no matter where they are sent up). We then went on and began to talk more with her, we got into a hard and not very essential topic (for right now with her) and I was struggling to speak and explain, I could feel myself struggling and trying to think about how to explain it when I got the admonish in my head, 'teach by the spirit' , I turned to Sofia and gave up the reigns the best I could to the spirit and I bore my testimony of the vital topics that were the basis of here questions and then opened up to her and shared some unplanned, experiences from my life from which I have learned that God loves his children and is with us through our trials. The spirit was strong and was felt. I am so very grateful for the help that I received and for the support of my companion.
Yesterday was Transfers and so the time had finally come that I needed to say good-bye to Elder Clement and Elder Bramwell. It was hard, I never have liked good-byes, but at times they are necessary. Elder Clement and I talked for awhile and then said our, "See you later," he has been a big influence in my life and I'll miss him. I then said good-bye to Elder Bramwell. His homecoming will be on the 26th at the building on Pomerado (not the twin oaks) I assured him that you would be there and he has some things for you. Probally e-mail his Dad.
Well that is all the time I have. I got transfered again. I am now in the Nevsky branch in the city. I am confident that the Lord wants me here, I don't understand all the changes but I know that he does and that is sufficient for me. I love you all, take care and be good.
Love,
Elder Dean

Letter from Russia-April 9, 2009

Dear Family,

Happy Easter! and Happy Conference! I know that you have already watched it but hopefully it was amazing and you were able to take that which Heavenly Father put in specifically for you. I am so excited to watch it this weekend. I cannot believe how fast the time goes by and that this will already be my third time watching General Conference in Russia. Thank you all so much for your letters, they really give me an extra boost to keep on going. Cass I loved hearing about that little girl's testimony and shared it with some of the Elders in my district, we had a pretty good one here the other week as the primary got up to sing for women's day. So the 6 kids in the branch went up the front and began singing "Because I have been given much I too must give" and it was so funny. There was one little girl that half way through the song found it amusing to start jabbing the other kids in the throat while they were trying to sing and it was so funny and then there was one little boy that was a little overwhelmed by going up to the front but started to make the slow walk all the way up to the front during the whole song and got there right in time for them to finish and go back to sitting down. It was so funny to see his slow walk all the way up to the front during the presentation and then turn around when it finished and sprint back to his Mom. Got to love it! Also thank you Brittany and Dad for those talks that you sent me. Really-I have been studying them throughly and finding ways that I can improve. Talks are always so great to read, so if you have any favorites please send them my way. There is another Elder here-Elder Ludwig and he and I are always switching and copying talks for eachother and its great. Sorry that I cannot thank each of you and rewrite you personally but I hope you know that if I had the time-I really would. So thank you so much for all your love and support, it is what I live on. Sofia on Sunday came to church and received a blessing from the branch president to help her to quit smoking. President did a great job explaing to her exactly how blessings work and what are responsibilities are and what the Lord promises. She is a tough cookie but by the end of she had tears in her eyes as she and Sister Tatiana left. It was a great experience and I could really feel the power of God being Manifested as we exercised his priesthood as it talks about in D&C 84. I am so grateful to hold his priesthood and fell its presence. Last Saturday we had a new senior couple come in from Idaho to help out with the CES system. We haven't received any American Elders since last summer but for some reason senior couples are able to come in without any problems. We even lost an elder this week as he went home with a hernia. Here one week and then home the next. Kind of scary but just reassures the fact that we always need to be living our life to the fullest and on a mission that certainly means working hard everyday and not just waiting for the end, because as Pres. Packer would-"It just does not work that way!" But anyway the senior couple came on Saturday and on Tuesday I got a call asking that my companion and I would go over to the Clements and help them get situated and help answer any of their questions. So we went over there and took them around a bit. and it was so much fun to go over there and herlp them out and then take them out on the streets for a bit. It kind of reminded me of Mom and Dad and how much I would love to take them around and show them all of the amazing things to see. i loved it so much and it was a lot of fun to help. Yesterday I was in the office on an exchange and so I got to spend the day with Elder Dunford and it was a lot of fun. He is such a solid Elder and he does so well managing the office. He has been there for 5 transfers now and he will for sure leave next transfer to spend his last transfer as a regular missionary. He is so great and really helps me a lot. I was able to spend a lot of spare time while I was burning conference disks to play around on the church's websites. I don't know if you know much about them but it is so amazing and you need to spend some time getting aquainted with them so that you can refer others to them. They have these short video clips called, "Mormon Messages" that are all over the internet explaing what we belive in. They are powerful. But also yesterday I was able to come to an appreciation of something te Lord had done for me. After finals (at BYU) I was pretty sure that I had not done very well, actually I did't know because I couldn't even bering myself to look at the test results screen and just left the testing buildings and I never got a chance to look at my grades before I left on my mission, and so president allows us to go on the BYU website and so yesterday I was able to check my grades and I found out that I got a 3.75. All A's and a B(In dance! I told austin that I didn't want tio take that class!) but I was so suprised and so grateful that he helped me out so much. Really I did what I could and he really helped out and made his arm manifest. And as I was thinking about it last night I was able to come to a realization that it talks about that in my Patriarchal blessing. I am so grateful for all of my blessings and for the opportunity to serve him. I hope that you all have a wonderful week and always remeber how much Heavenly Father loves and knows each of you. Don't ever forget that and be grateful for your trials that he has given you.Love you all,Elder Dean

Dear Family- April 2, 2009

Dear Family,

Hello from Sunny Russia!!! It looks as if the weather will be following the same schedule as last year, which makes me really happy! I remember President Sandburg telling us on our first day in the country that it was the first good weather of the year and that hopefully it stayed that way and it did, and hopefully this year will be the same. Well it is kind of weird to say because it is kind of hard to believe but yesterday was the 1 year marker in Russia. Pretty crazy huh!? Yesterday I was on an exchange with Elder Holm and so we were able to celebrate our 1 year marker in the country and we were able to talk a lot about what we have learned so far. He is such a great Elder and it really was a lot of fun to be with him and to be in the same district as him. It is kind of funny but him and I have always kind of stuck together throughout the mission so far and it was fun to spend the day with him yesterday. I am continually impressed when I am with members from my MTC district because they have each grown so much and they are each becoming such strong holders of the Lord's priesthood. It just kind of makes me appreciate and understand when the scriptures tell us that the Lord wants our hearts-meaning He wants us to change to become more like Him and His Son, and how proud He must be when He sees us make good choices and do that which is right to bring our lives in accordance with his will. Certainly we are limited in our earthly imperfect vision but it really is a privilege and a blessing when we are able to see those positive changes in others. I don't really know if I am getting my thoughts across clearly, but I really like seeing people doing the right thing for the right reason, acting out of sincerity because of the relationship that they are building with their Heavenly Father.

Anyway it was a really great exchange and we were able to get a lot done as worked our hardest together. And the Lord helped me to know what to share with him as I had been praying about it for the last couple of days. He is a missionary with a strong foundation. But yesterday we decided that we were going to go out tracting and it was quite an experience. Because almost all the domes(apartment buildings) here have doma phones, tracting is not something we do very often. But if you keep your eyes open you can find open doors with either broken doma phones or without any doma phones at all. But as far as tracting goes, when we find an open door we go in, go up to the talk and then work our way down and very rarely do people open their doors and usually the conversation doesn't get past-We are missioanaries for the Church of Jesus Christ. But the Lord certainly is preparing his children. Me met a really amazing man named Atosh on the stairwell of a dome yesterday. We talked to him for awhile, shared with him who we were and little about what we are doing here and how we know that our message can help him. He told us that he was really interested and that he is tired of the life that he is living and ready for change. He gave us his number and he told us that he would be at church on Sunday. Wer gave him a "Lamb of God" DVD and he was really excited about meeting. Itwas pretty amazing and afterwards Elder Holm and I just looked at eachother knowing that we had just seen the Lord's hand at work.

But an e-mail talking about tracting would be incomplete without some funny stories-right?! On one of the doors yesterday Elder Holm rang the door bell in the dark stairwell and the first thing that we heard was a lot of dogs barking! and suprising the door opened pretty quickly from where I was I couldn't see inside right away but I could see Elder's Holm reaction and it was priceless. He quickly regained his composure despite all of the smoke being blown in his face and began speaking to the man who had answered the door. I poked my head around the door and there stood a very large man wearing only a pair of boxers/some kind of underwear and that was it, smoking a cigarette. Just a whole lot of smoke and a whole lot of skin and very little interest in us. He just slowly shut the door and Elder holm and I left the dome. It was so funny but probally did not beat the door that we knocked on to which a lady answered with out opening the door. She asked us who we were and we told here and she was really confused about what we wanted. We explained again and then she told us, "I am not going to open the door to you-do you know why? We than asked why and she said-"Because I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU!" we tried again to explain that our intentions were good but that really lit her fire and she told us in not a very nice way to leave immediately. We wished her all the best and then took off. No matter what happens i am so glad to know that all of these peopl are children of Heavenly Father and he loves each of them as he loves each of us, and I know that I am going to see all of these people again and they are going to come up to me in Heaven and say, "I'm sorry about that..." and I am going to say-"Don't worry about it and get over here and give me a hug!" and then I am going to begin them teaching them about that which I already tried in this life. I really know that that is true and it really helps me to see these people in a proper light and to understand that maybe their time is not right now but it will come and that I can look forward to with a smile.

Well that all from my end. Dad congratulations on the new calling!!! I am so excited for you, you will do great. I was especially excited to hear that you are reading Preach My Gospel, that is great. The last chapter speaks in very cllear details about your responsibilities and the responsibilities of all those around you. Get to know them and apply them and help others do the same. I haven't seen it yet but I know that is the Lord's way and when we follow his way we are entitled to his help and the blessings will come. You are going to help so much, I really am so excited. Build a relationship with your missionaries (Corb's letter cuts off here)

Dear Family- March 26, 2009

Dear Family,
Well another week has come and gone and the weather is showing it here, well kind of. The sun is shinning but the temperature is still below freezing and so hopefully in the next week this winter weather will finally say its last good-byes. But just in the last week there have been signs of the "White Nights." It really is actually quite amazing. 7:30 at night in March and the shy is pretty bright. The snows following but its bright out. The weather can be so random here. The other day I got all bundled up and went out on our balcony to do some studying and the weather was really nice but it was cold, I come back in and a couple of minutes later look out side and the snow was following. Completely bright outside but the snow was following. Pretty random but such is life in St. Pete's. This week went well. We have an investigator named Sofia and she is such an amazing lady. She has been investigating for quite awhile but just recently she agreed to be baptized. We planned it for the 11th of April and things are going according to plan. She wants to be baptized, she knows that it is right but she has a smoking problem that she is trying to get rid of right now. We promised her that if she will read and pray everyday she will receive the help that she needs in order to throw this habit. She is so amazing though and I don't know if I have ever felt so comfortable teaching someone. I just feel like she doesn't judge us on our language and she always asks really good questions and so we know that she is listening to us intently. I had to give a talk in Sacrament the other week and on our meeting the Friday before with her I told her about that and how it is kinda of scary to give a talk in a different language and after our lesson we asked if she would be at church on Sunday and she said, "Of course I'll be there" and it was so nice to see her there. She is probably around 50 and she has a daughter who lives in Germany and she lives with her son. Same ol story though with the question of a husband-we don't know anything about that. It is kind of sad but that is really common here, and I think that the worst part is how generally it is accepted. I was reading in my Russian grammar book and there was a selection of dialogue to translate, and the whole dialogue was about a man telling his wife that he was going to go to Vladimer's house during the weekend to help him celebrate the one year marker of his friend's divorce by getting drunk. Horrible. And its really sad to go into these homes and to teach these single woman and no that there is no male presence there that should be helping them take care of all of the concerns that come with having a family, job, apartment... I don't know, but i do know that we are here to help and I do know that the strength of the gospel and the effects that it can have on the people and even the countries that embrace it. The gospel will grow here and as it does things will change for a better- I know it. But please keep Sofia in your prayers, she is such a nice lady and really means so much to me and I am anxious to see the blessings pour into her life. Oh but you can't talk about Sofia with out talking about Tatiana. Sister Tatiana is the member on all the lessons and she is a champ. She really is so amazing and is helping Sofia every step of the way. On Sunday we baked some banana bread and wrapped some up for church. And after sacrament meeting Sofia had to go to work and so before they left I told them that we had baked them something and pulled the banana bread out of my bag for each of them and Tatiana was so surprised because she said, "our minds were thinking the same way and pulled out a huge baked good that she had made for us. It was so nice of her and I have never had a member do that for me, she is definitely one that will inherit her rightful spot in the Celestial Kingdom, she is pure in heart. Also on Sunday I was walking through the halls with Elder Holm getting ready for a meeting when Sveta came walking out of Relief Society. The Lord promises us indescribable joy as we lose ourselves in his work, and I think that indescribable joy would be the closest way to describe seeing Sveta at church. She walked out and i said,"Sveta!!" and she turned and she was so excited and told me how happy she was. It was the first time seeing her since her confirmation and it was so exciting. I had to go right then, but I expected that I would be seeing her at church so I had some banana bread for her too and she was very grateful. She is so great. Yesterday i went on an Exchange with Elder Dunford. he is in my district and so we got to go on an exchange and it was so much fun. Just like the good ol' days back in Vyborg. He has definetly been my favorite companion and so it is hard to describe how happy I was to be with him. he goes home at the end of next transfer and Elder Clement goes home in three weeks. Saying good-bye is so hard for me but I am glad to know that I will see them again. I love you all. Thanks for all your letters and that package with the ping pong and letters. You are alll so great! have a week.
Love,
Elder Dean