INTRODUCTION TO OUR KHABAROVSK

Now that we have lived here for two months, we want to share what we know, where we have been and where we want to go. Khabarovsk, Russia is a very cultured city. Russia as a country respects and loves cultural aspects. Khabarovsk is a city of 580,000 people and it has many museums, theatres, parks, squares, universities and institutes, and wide sidewalks to walk any where you need to. The buses include: regular buses, trolley buses (they run on wheels and electric attachments up on top of them) and tram-vies (they run on metal rail with electric attachments up on top of them). We have experienced all of them and they are very needed to get to our "south, north and central areas". These are areas that our mission has used to divide up the city. This week two of our elders will be going home (We are not aware of others in our mission who will be doing the same) and it is necessary to close our south area and combine it with the other two areas. To give you an example, one of the farthest people we went to teach with the elders was a walk to the bus stop, then a 30 min. ride on the bus/or trolley bus then a 15-20- min. walk again. We are so grateful that we are in pretty good physical shape, because we are exacting it out of our wonderful bodies!!! Khabarovsk is across the Amur River from China. Khabarovsk was named after a Russian explorer named Yerofey Khabarov and started as an outpost in 1858. After WWII, Khabarovsk was the site for War Crime Trials of the Japanese.
We want to share our sites now. When we first looked out our apartment, we noticed that the power poles and power lines run on top of the apartment buildings. There are tons!!...literally tons of apartment buildings! Our apartment building is 15 floors and we are sure glad we are only on the 3rd floor - especially when the elevators don't work! We are relatively lucky as we have found as we visit our investigators and less actives sometimes they don't even have an elevator in their building! (We have a small one and a large one!!) Now let's think about this and get the right perspective.... to shop for anything, you must walk and carry it home! When Bro. & Sis. Williams told us about their living in Vladivostok (which is basically the same) with their 7 children we really did not understand the whole picture of the shopping thing, the carrying home thing, and the apartment living thing! We now do. We have a whole new love for our home and our cars!!! We did not bring our exercise weights with us, but purchased some here and it is a good thing that we did!! We walk a lot! We love it! The sidewalks are W I D E which is nice, but many of them are extremely uneven and the stairs EVERYWHERE are totally uneven... this makes for an adventure whenever we go out...so you see, we are always on an adventure!! :)
Our Spring sounds like yours...warmer and drier, then that very morning or afternoon, it snows!
However, the snows do not stay long. All our sidewalks and roads are dry now. All snow has melted!..and we had 4-6 foot piles ALL OVER! We are so thankful that we got to have snow and a little cold (we missed the -40 below weather) and see the beauties of this city blanketed in snow. There are few single dwellings, but there are some. They are away from the city center which has only apartments buildings and offices and theatres. Many people have 'dachas' which is gardens. The people in the city have dachas 20-30 min. drive/bus ride away, the single dwellings/homes have them in their yards like us. The single homes are very old, very worn & tattered. There is no extra money to fix up homes and apartments, so most people cannot do it. Now, picture a home 50-80 years old and never having anything done to it! Some of the single homes have no running water, so this has to be carried in. Some homes, buses, tram-vies and buildings are just old. They definitely live like the prophets have told us to do... "Fix it up, wear it out or do without". The people are inventive in using everything and fixing so they can use. We guess they don't fix-up homes because they feel they are 'good enough'.
The people, ah yes, the people. We have met W O N D E R F U L people...right on the street! Last night we were walking home from English Club at the church and three young-single-adult-age people called to us, we stopped and talked. It is mostly the younger ones who call out in English "Hello!" or "Americans!". We stopped and had a delightful visit with them, handed out the English Club invitation with the address on it and shared our family photos. They were fun, we talked in English and Russian to them. Even though the youth learn English in school, they do not always have the opportunity to speak it, so they seem to enjoy talking to us and practicing their skills. On another occasion in this same park, we were called over to them by an older woman who spoke English. We again had a delightful conversation in English/Russian and we always walk away with our hearts lifted. Why? ..because these nice people have accepted us and basically welcomed us to their land by talking to us! We are complete strangers, walking on foreign soil and they say "Hello". The Missionary Badge is a wonderful thing to show the presence of our Heavenly Father in these goodly lands. We love you all. We think of you often.
Thank you for your prayers and your faithfulness in serving in the Kingdom of God. Our love we send to you....Elder and Sister Sartori aka..Ctapehshena ee Cectpa Captopi

A Walk in the Park Dynamo

This is the beautiful park that we walk to church through. We chose to take this picture right after one of the late Spring snows and then we hope to take one when it is nice and green! This is the same park that was full of ice sculptures. Tonight as we walked home - two weeks - after this pic was taken, we saw all the many walking paths down through the trees. It was amazing, because snow has covered so much, we didn't know so many paths existed!!

Garages in Russia

One day we were out with the Elders and we said,"Could we please take a picture of these garages so we can share the experience here?" Notice the 'row' of 'garages'. They are not next to the house! The owners park their car, if they have one, lock the garage, then walk to their home which could even be a block or two away! Wow, are we spoiled or what? We get to park right next to our home!

NEWS FROM KHABAROVSK, RUSSIA

THIS IS OUR DEAR FRIEND TATYANA GOLOOB. She asked Elder Sartori to baptize her on April 6, 2009. She has a great spirit and testimony. Tatyana is our very first baptism for Elder & Sister Sartori. Elders Allen and Hanson taught her the gospel. Others also taught her, so many touched her heart, but the Spirit taught her.

Dear Friends and Family....I will now try to repent and blog more often!! You know those 'day planners' that all the missionaries carry?...I carry one also and I have now written down to enter our blog news regularly. I have found that the hours and days go by quickly. We have been involved with lots of wonderful things that all entail 'doing the Lord's work'. Every Tuesday and Thursday we attend English Club in the evenings. It seems that alot of people want to learn English here in Khabarovsk, Russia....young and old!! We have met wonderful people here. English Club is where Russians can practice speaking Russian for an hour. The missionaries make this so much fun, so when we had to lead it, we also tried to make it fun. We have a beginner's group and an advanced group. They meet separately. Then we take a 5 minute break and reconvene with an invitation to hear a spiritual thought. Elder Sartori conducts the spiritual thought on Tuesdays and Sister Sartori conducts the spiritual thought on Thursdays. This part is only 15 minutes long, but strong truths are taught here, testimonies are shared and the spirit is strong. We share in the advanced group and some other elders do a spiritual thought in the beginning group. It is amazing how just sharing gospel truths then the Spirit teaches hearts. The missionaries then are able to make appointments for more teaching as the people ask.
MISSIONARY WORK IS AWESOME!!! You know what?.... it was awesome when we did it in our ward also!!
We have had two Zone Conferences with our Mission President and his wife. They are really spiritual people and have helped the Russia Vladivostok Mission to become. The mission is relatively new and Satan knows how important this work is all over the world, so he is doing all he can to stop it! We are working as hard as we can to try to invite people to 'Come Unto Christ' so that He can help them in their lives here on earth through His Gospel and also through eternity. We are so thankful to be a part of this great work in these latter days.
A note of interest....when on a mission for our Lord, Jesus Christ, we are called upon to do many things, even things that seem to be impossible! They needed someone to write the 2008 Khabarovsk Branch History so I said that I would do it!!! WE WERE NOT EVEN HERE IN 2008!! The Lord provides a way for us to accomplish His work! Two weeks before two choice elders were tranferred out of Khabarovsk, they shared the Branch happenings with me including pics and then Elder Beecher even typed up some of the commentary that he knew from personally being in attendance at some of the events! Angels walk the earth today?.... You bet they do and we work with them daily!! May you each see angels working in your lives!
We have had dinner at a sweet lady's home (she is a teacher of English..lucky us!), gone to the Philharmonic Orchestra with an opera singer, met a doctor who just received a special machine to help with her work in gastrointestinal problems (there is only one other machine like this in Russia and it is over in Moscow), met another lady who works at an Institution for Teacher Training plus all the inactive members who we are trying to invite to come back to church. We are truly blessed each and every day!
The lady, Galina, who trains teachers, asked us to do a service project for her. It involved reading into a microphone for recording of a text that they will use in the schools. The text is written in English and so they wanted a native American - us- to do it. Pres. Everett okayed the project and we have begun! It is only hard when we have to read the Russian names! We are so thankful for the little tutoring that we had before we left. It has helped us so very much. Learning a foreign language is tough, it takes hard work, it takes a long time....but is so worth it!!
Seminar and Institute is held weekly here in Russia for the Young Single Adults. It is such a vital part of the members here. It is a great way for testimonies to be strengthened and training for future leaders of the church. We will be planning the S & I (Seminary and Institute) graduations and attending them next month. There are five cities to fly, train and drive to. The YSA are totally awesome!!! We have been blessed to meet them.
We had a great Branch activity that was a Talent Show. It was so fun preparing for it and doing it. We invited anyone we met to come. The elders made Mexican Tacos for dinner after and about 50 people came! What a success! We were asked to make tortillas and we had never done that, but what a great opportunity!..and they worked, they were good!
HOORAY... WE HAD OUR FIRST BAPTISM!! ............AND...........WE ARE HAVING ANOTHER ONE!!! Two delightful sisters (sisters in the gospel)... Sister Tatyana and Sister Svetlana. Tatyana's was Monday night and Svetlana's will be Saturday between General Conference sessions. Yes, that is what I said! You see, we were not able to hear conference, so our Zone Leader recorded it and our branch will see it this Saturday and Sunday...in Russian and in English! These choice women are very spiritual and so sweet. We have loved teaching in their home. I must tell you that we have no baptismal font here in Khabarovsk, so we must find a hotel with a sauna-type containment, rent it for an hour and perform the baptism there. We have a huge river here in Khabarovsk, but it is too cold and too dirty. The spirit was strong as we closed the door of the sauna at the hotel and prayed and sang songs from the hymn. Elder Sartori was asked by Tatyana to baptize her. He felt very strongly that he wanted to say the baptismal prayer in Russian. He spent all day (that is how long he knew about it after she asked him) studying the words and with the help of our sweet elders, and our Heavenly Father's help, he did great! Now you must understand, we still must study hard to understand, pronounce, read labels, etc. He tried so very hard........and he was blessed!!
The Church of Jesus Christ has been restored! We testify of this truth! Our love to all, Elder and Sister Sartori

MEMBERS, MEMBERS, MEMBERS...SNOW !!!

Getting Our CES Training

We have a minute to share some update information. Last week we were able to be trained in our CES duties. HOORAY!! Henry Kosak is the Area Director Europe East of LDS Seminaries & Institutes of Religion and Alexander Drachyov (one of his assistants) is the CES Coordinator Novosibirsk Mission of LDS Seminaries & Institutes of Religion. We met with these spiritual giants for four wonderful days, learning side-by-side and 'at their feet'. I don't know if words could adequately describe our experiences. The spirit definitely guides and inspires these wonderful CES leaders, and we were taught tons!! Our training began as we flew to Yuzhno Sakhalinsk, an island just east of Khabarovsk with one of our S&I (Seminaries & Institutes) working there helping to train, teach and love these wonderful young men and young women in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In this S&I and subsequent groups that we visited we met with teachers and students, introduced ourselves, bore our testimonies and Elder Sartori spoke at the concluding Fireside in Vladivostok. In between we carefully listened to Henry and Alexander and tried to glean all that we could help in doing our responsibilities in our mission as well as preparing to MAGNIFY IN OUR MISSIONARY WORK!!! (There is much to practice and do that we have learned, but we know if we try, if we work HARD, the Lord will help us and we will help further His work here in Far East Russia.) 1 Ne. 3:7 We know we are nothing without the Lord and He has blessed us and helped us so much, we just want to work hard in this part of His vineyard. After Yuzhno Sakhalinsk, we flew to Vladivostok, caught a taxi and drove 1 1/2 hours to Ussuriysk. We met with these wonderful people then taxied back the same night. The next day repeated with a 3 1/2 hour taxi ride to Nahodka, met with some more wonderful saints and taxied back to Vladivostok. Our next, which was Saturday, we met with a delightful couple, Andrei and Lena. They are the YSA Commitee Chairpeople for our mission. They are the sweetest, loving and willing young couple with a glow about them! They helped us understand how we can be of help in planning the YSA Activities and the YM/YW Activities.

Saturday afternoon we met in training for the teachers of the five S&I branches that we have. We had an assignment there as well as being trained. Dinner with this group was fun. We had no idea what was good or what to try, so we were most grateful for the help from native Russians!! Henry is from Germany, but has been working in Russia for years, so he was a real asset to help us in many ways to understand the food, the customs, the people. Saturday night at the Fireside was a great experience. We felt so much love from these young people. We wanted to talk more to them. After I introduced Elder Sartori and myself, and told a little about our family, I told Elder Balistero (?spelling?) who was translating for me... "I would like to bear my testimony in Russian". It was such a solemn experience (just like when E. Sartori bore his testimony in Russian at the Russian Branch in Salt Lake City, Utah). Heavenly Father helped me remember my studies, but the people with their love and encouraging faces prodded me onward and encouraged me to go on. Such love and support is humbling. Bro. Kosak and Bro. Drachyov spoke at this Fireside also and we were taught more! We had to leave while the closing song was sung so we could walk to the train station (with our luggage)..it was 7:30 p.m. and the train pulled out at 8:00 p.m.

So many people have helped us on our mission. Elders show us/take us to the airport, train station, pick us up, show us where to buy necessities, show us which buses and tramvites to ride and where to get off...........angels definitely have attended us!!

Russia has a lot of friendly people willing to help you shop and understand what we are buying. Often times we just point to what we would like and they so graciously help us. On the street, we have had young people come us and say hello in English and talk to us. They are so excited and as young people do...they glow!!!

Our Khabarovsk Branch is small, but the people are good and loving and kind! The first Sunday at church there were 5 or 6 members plus 8 missionaries. Last Sunday there were 13 members, 3 investigators, 1 visitor from Vladivostok and 8 missionaries! WOW!! We visit so many people with the missionaries and invite them back to church and some of them come and we feel a little like Alma, the younger felt when he hadn't seen his missionary brethren for years and when he saw them and they were still faithful in the gospel, his heart was full!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. It is so true! So are the promises of blessings that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ tell us about in the scriptures and encourage us to follow commandments so that we may receive those blessing. They want us to be happy. They want us to do the small things required of us in this life that we may be

HAPPY F O R E V E R !!!

May each one of us feel their love we pray... in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Okay, that was not planned - to bear my testimony - but hey, we're missionaries!!! :) :)

Love to all our families and many friends. Elder and Sister Sartori

A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO A MOST WONDERFUL LADY...

MY MOM, GAYLIE LELIS.

LOVIN' LIFE IN KHABAROVSK, RUSSIA

We are loving it here in Khabarovsk, Russia...part of the Far East Russia! We have 6 wonderful Elders and 2 mini-missionaries. One of our mini-missionaries returned to his home in Nahodka, Russia, then in 10 days or so will go to the MTC in Provo, Utah. After his training, he will return to Russia Samara Mission and serve his wonderful people here. We also just got transfers, so many of these fine missionaries will be leaving us and we will get more wonderful elders. These elders are AMAZING, so the Lord is just making them better and better and these elders are 'rising to the bar' and above!! We are trying to love a lot of our members back. It must be the last days, because even Pres. Hinckley talked about our need for retention! We must all show love and forgiveness to all our members and help them feel our Savior's love for them. Heavenly Father loves all His children...each one of us and He wants us to live so that we can return to live with Him. May we all strive to do better and live up to the potential that He has for us.

We thought you might enjoy some pics of a couple rooms in our apartment. It is definitely a humble abode and we are so blessed to have it. We are never hot or cold in our apartment, but there is no thermostat..! I can't figure it out! Water is heated in some building or plant far away (when we went in a car or bus we saw huge insulated pipes a couple of feet off the ground) and these carry hot water to the thousands of apartment buildings in Khabarovsk. Our showers are plentiful with hot water and are wonderful. We understand that this might change when heating apartments for summer will no longer be needed. You see, the hot water is the heating source for the apartment. We are told that there was no snow to speak of here last year, but this year there has been lots. What a nice gift for us.

Included are some pics of the 'park' that we walk through as we go to church - 20 min. walk up & down hill one way. It is the greatest exercise to be able to walk everywhere and we are blessed to be able to do so. This park has tons of ice sculptures and many 'ice slides' for children to play on. No matter what the weather, the children come out and play and moms walk infants in strollers. I wish we would see more families, but unfortunately there are lots singles.

The work is going forth, we go with the missionaries a lot and visit with member, investigators and it is all wonderful. WE SEND OUR LOVE, THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS TO YOU FOR THE SPIRIT TO BE BOUNTEOUS IN YOUR LIVES. Love, Elder & Sister Sartori