From Russia With Love...

a.k.a. Letters from Sis. Lynes in Russia

Letter #24: From the Mission Field in Russia

Subject: #24
Date: Sat, 08 Sep 2001 22:39:48 +0600
From: Shirley Lynes <gma@jacklynes.com>
To: jlynes@jacklynes.com

Dear folks,
How is the world treating you? I hope everything is going well for you all. Things are about the same here. It is definitely fall. The leaves are turning and falling, noticeable more each day. The weather hasn't been cold this week. The temperature has been in the forties and fifties. It has been a wet week, though. We had a heavy fog one morning, and rain three days, but the sun hasn't been out all week, so even on the days it didn't rain, it was still wet and muddy. The days continue to get shorter. I'm not looking forward to the winter when we will go to work in the dark (at 9am) and come home in the dark (at 9pm). The only way we will see daylight is through the windows at Rosy. It will really be different. Sergei II worked for six months in Boston, Mass. a few years ago. He told me that it was really strange to him that in the middle of the day you didn't cast a shadow. He wasn't used to the sun being directly overhead. I told him that I'm not used to not seeing the sun directly overhead. It is south of perpendicular. I guess it is all in your perspective. We had a baptism last night. A mother and son (no father in family) and two teenage girls. I don't know if any others were baptized. I usually know when there are baptisms because I handle the baptismal clothing. The church is growing here in the Yekaterinburg mission. They are waiting for approval to buy some property they have found that has a clear title. So much of the property in Russia doesn't have a clear title. It sounds like a sizable piece of property. Pres. Hall said there is room for a chapel, an institute building, and even room for a small temple. Then he said not to tell that, knowing full well that by nightfall it would be all over the mission! He said this at zone conference on Wednesday. Of course, the wheels turn exceedingly slow. We won't have the chapel before I go home, and Pres. & Sister Hall go home at the end of June next year. The Halls are planning to serve a mission, as regular missionaries, after they are home a little while. (He says six weeks, she says six months. He is a workaholic.) Zone conference was very spiritual, which we needed. Not speaking Russian, we don't get much out of going to church. The last zone conference was devoted to making sure the elders knew how to handle unwanted attention from the young ladies in the branches. So it really didn't do a lot to lift our spirits! When we left for work Tuesday morning, our water supply was working just fine. When we got home Tuesday night, we had no cold water in the kitchen, but cold water in the bathroom. These two rooms are on opposite ends of the apartment, and are served by different supply systems. Our filter system is in the kitchen, so we had no drinking water except the water we had stored, which hadn't been rotated since I've been here. It tasted awful, but when that's all you have, you get the picture. We had to buy drinking water to take to work. The water stayed off till Friday night. We couldn't talk to anyone to find out what was wrong. We tried, but failed miserably. Sergei found out about our problem and came over last night to find out from the neighbors what was wrong. By the time he got here the problem had been fixed. A line in the basement had broken, and it took them that long to fix it. He said that the next time we have a problem, he will threaten to come over to see about it, and it will be fixed! He is really so kind to us. He seems to have taken it upon himself to be our helper and defender. Pres. Hall thinks highly of him, too. We aren't supposed to open Rosy if there are no elders there, but if Sergei is there, we can open, even with no elders. He isn't a member of the church, but he really should be! I talked to Pres. Hall about the reason we can't have a filter system at Rosy, and the reasons make sense, as I knew they would, but I had to ask anyway! First, it is against church policy to put filter systems in church buildings. It is also hard to know how much use it gets, and so you don't know how often to change the filters. It could make people sick if they weren't changed often enough. So, he said to have to elders bring water for us. I'm not used to asking other people to do things for me. I'll probably keep carrying it myself as long as I am able. THEN, I'll have to ask for help. The elders do anything I ask them to do, but those bottles of water get heavy. Yes, I know they are stronger than I am, but they have things to do besides bringing Sis. Lynes water. Our district leader was planning to come bring us drinking water to our dom today if the water wasn't back on, but we are so grateful that when we opened the faucet, water came out! It was a little rusty looking at first, but it looks fine now. Don't take your safe drinking water for granted!!!!!! There is a man in my class named Alexei who is one of the nicest men you would ever want to meet. He is probably in his early forties, slim (as most of the Russians I've seen are), with slightly graying hair. Here in Russia there are about four generations who were taught that there is no God. He doesn't have an understanding of the resurrection. He says that most Russians don't believe in God. I told him that that was too bad, because God believes in them! He asked me some questions today about what happens after death, and he said that everyone ends sometime. I told him that after he dies, after a little time, his spirit would be reunited with his body, never to be separated again, and that he would live forever, eternally. (He said that he didn't want to be in charge of putting the body back together again! How could the elements of the body be brought back together again?) And you all thought I had a cushy job, teaching English!!!!! I have sensed a sort of sadness in him, and maybe this is why. Can you imagine not knowing what is going to happen to us, and thinking that sometime, we would exist no more? He also asked if there are other worlds peopled by people like us, and if there is, is Jesus the God of those worlds, too, or are there other Gods for those worlds. Please pray for him to be receptive to the gospel, and pray that I will have answers and what to say given to me when the people ask me things like this. You can see that they think very deeply. I hope to get them to listen to the discussions and get an understanding of the basics on which to build. I have told them to listen and then pray and get their own answers. I know I'm safe with that! Most of the time my students seem to believe what I tell them. I talk religion every chance I get. Last Monday night the class wanted the elders to stay and talk with them, but they were finished with their service time at six. Sergei I & II told them not to tell them that they had an appointment, that they are important too. The elders said they were sorry but they did have an appointment. The Sergeis told them to put them down as an appointment for next Monday night (when these elders will be back for service). I told them that the only way the elders could count them as an appointment was if they listened to the discussions. They said that was all right, they would listen! So the elders got out their weekly planners and put them down as an appointment for Monday night. So the class is supposed to listen to the first discussion. I'll let you know how it goes! I was told something strange in class this morning. They say that Russia has put into effect a new law making it unlawful to drink in front of a policeman. It seems that if they have been drinking, they would keep an unopened bottle of strong beer in the car and if they get stopped by a policeman, they would open that bottle of beer and drink it down right in front of the policeman, making any sobriety test invalid. So now, if they do that, they are automatically considered drunk! Things really are different here in Russia! When we left Rosy today we went to Baskin Robbins (again!) and then on over to Lenina St. for Sis. Jenkins to do some shopping. Then we came back to our area and went to the Reenock to get some things we needed. We were mostly looking for some wide Scotch tape. It is time to winterize our windows. Last year someone had put tape on all the places around the storm windows and interior windows to keep the wind from whistling through. We had to open some of them this summer, so we need to get them taped back up before it gets really cold. It seemed to take care of the problem last year, so we are going to redo it for this winter. Our district leader just called to check on us, and I told him we were going to be doing that, and he offered to come help us with it. We appreciate the kindnesses of all the people here! I've been trying to think of something profound that I could close this letter with, but I'm coming up blank! I guess I'll let you off without any preaching tonight! I'm tired and want to go to bed!!!!! Oh, here's a quote from Pres. Hinckley: "Things will work out. Keep trying. Be believing. Be happy. Don't get discouraged. Things will work out." I gave this quote to our district leader yesterday. He was undergoing a very stressful day. When he called last night, he said that everything HAD worked out! So hang in there when the going gets tough! Thank you to all who took the time to email me this week. You have no idea what it means to me to check my email, and have something there! I love hearing from all of you. I'll answer when I have time. I don't have much time for letter writing, but I sure do love letter reading!!!!! Remember I love you all and pray for you every day. Please keep me in your prayers, and don't let the little ones forget me! 

Love,
Mom, Grandma, Great Grandma, Shirley, Sis. Lynes, Aunt Shirley, sister, cousin, friend, acquaintance, whatever! (choose one)