The Fairy of the Krasnodar Branch

Дорогие Люди,

This week was a wild one. We have been trying to make the Primary more of a Primary and less of a crazy house where children run throughout the building stealing peoples things and writing on chalkboards. So, we started by going back to the manual with the Primary Presidency and it was quite the task to explain it all. Luckily, I didn't do it alone and Sister Lisitsina was a primary teacher as was Sister Lund, so we all worked together, and last Sunday was probably the best I've ever seen Primary run. Man it was good. Who knew structure makes that much of a difference? Moral of the story: Follow the Handbook.

We also were able to go out to an active member who lives about 3 hours from Krasnodar and hasn't been able to go to church for years due to her old age and the fact that her husband is almost constantly in need of her care. Her name by the way is Feya which means Fairy in Russian.

She was just an amazing example to me of faith and strength, humility and kindness. We went with the Elders Quorum President, Denis, and one of the pairs of elders that serves in Krasnodar, Elder Powel and Elder Altuhov. They blessed the sacrament just for her first thing when we arrived. I've never seen anything like it. The picture below is of her house. Now just imagine that on that small little table lies one small piece of bread and one small cup of water with a white dish towel over the top. Denis and the Elders carefully knelt down before the table and said the sacrament prayers. First on the bread and then on the water. Both times giving Feya the small portion of bread or water that they had prepared just for her. She was so grateful. And I was so grateful to have been there. The sacrament, and in turn the Atonement of Jesus Christ, is really and powerfully for each individual. Even if you don't get that special one on one experience that Feya recieves due to her inability to make it to church on Sunday, it doesn't make the experience any less personal or any less individual to Jesus Christ. And so, it should be for you as well.

In other news, our investigator, Nastya who just was recently married in August to a member in Novo, has a set baptismal date that she is working towards! She was so excited to tell us about it during out lesson. She also was so sweet as she testified of how grateful she is that the Gospel gives her and her husband a common goal to work towards. She sees that as she has been trying to read her scirptures with him and live the gospel with him, they have become closer. It makes me all warm inside to think that in about a year, they can go to the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. Isn't that such a blessing?

I love you all! Have a great week!

Сестра Джарвис

Here's a picture of Sister Lisitsina and I on the way to Feya.

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And another of me playing the piano for Sacrament Meeting courtesy of Sister Miner who was in Krasnodar yesterday.
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