Here is an excerpt from our son's letter. Elder Otis, a missionary in Russia is proceeded by the official statement from the LDS church about US missionaries going to Russia. This is a bitter-sweet time for the church in Russia. The government has made it difficult and very expensive, to serve humanitarian missions there for more than three months at a time. Our missionaries have to leave the country every three months now to renew their visa's. It is my prayer that the missionaries will be able to remain there until their work is completed. We pray for our brothers and sisters who live in Russia. They are amazing faithful people and we love them dearly.
Can you even imagine the light and hope that the people feel when they learn about Christ? Many there are atheists. Some, especially the poor, feel a sense of hopelessness and drink more than they should. Alcohol is symptom of a much deeper problem I think. Our son has even seen mothers pushing baby buggies with an open bottle of vodka in their hand.
Elder Otis has seen the good and the bad. Joy and the heartache are alive and well in Russia. It has been a journey of faith and often triumph of good over evil. His visa is up in January. I pray he can stay at least that long to help these amazing people. As his mother I have appreciated his journey to adulthood and what a blessing it has been to be a part of it through our weekly letters.
I have loved seeing the happy faces of people who gather in the name of Jesus Christ! Their smiles are beautiful! Just like the sweet sister above who's arms are open. My sons service in this small congregation will not soon be forgotten I think.
"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released this statement Monday about the services of its missionaries in Russia:"
*"A recent change in Russian immigration law now requires foreigners on humanitarian visas (including missionaries) to leave Russia every three months to renew their visas.
The church is working to find an alternative solution to the 90-day renewal requirement. Until an appropriate alternative is identified, new missionary assignments to Russia will be limited to those nationalities not needing visas.
Missionaries currently serving in Russia are not being withdrawn, and the missions are fully staffed. Missionaries needing Russian visas who had not yet left for Russia have been reassigned."
"We haven't had a whole lot of investigator work recently, but we are reaching out to the members, trying to strengthen them and get them ready for the road that lies ahead. Well, I'm glad to be serving here. I know that I'm among the last of the Americans to be serving in Russia and I'm grateful and honored that the Lord sent me here at this time. I'm grateful to be serving in Pervouralsk, there are so many good people in this branch. I just hope that I can have a good effect on this branch and get things going good here. That's kind of bad news that no more American missionaries are going to be coming in. We were told that by April we will only have 50 missionaries in our mission, and that was with a reduced amount of Americans coming in. So now I don't know whats going to happen. The missionaries are working with a sense of urgency, we have to get things done before the number gets reduced. From now on we are going to be losing missionaries every transfer and areas are going to start closing down. So President is going to start closing the areas that are less productive first, so we are trying to make our areas as productive as possible. I'm just grateful that I'm serving here right now, and things are good and will keep getting better. The Lord is guiding his work and everything is happening for a reason. I'm just grateful that I'm a part of it! I hope you guys have a great week, I love you a lot and think and pray about you often. Matt"
We love our kids so much. We also love our Lord dearly and are more than happy for them to serve missions.
Something governments don't seem to understand. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a world wide church. The Europeans and Americans may not be going to Russia anytime soon, but we have plenty of Ukrainian missionaries and soon Russian missionaries who will be preaching the gospel in the streets of Russia. When one door closes Heavenly Father finds a way to open the windows wide!
*Deseret News
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