Barrett's email, March 19th, 2012

 Swan Lake with Dina 

Incredible view of the river from the 24th floor 

. Ice fishing on a pond in the middle of the city 

The hole where people go for a little dip, sometimes naked. Apparently it's very good for your health 

Talking to the primary about missionary work and doing some role-playing. Me and one of the little boys contacted this babushka 

The new translation of the Triple Combination 

Holy Cow! It sounds like you had a crazy week. It sounds like so much fun. Everyone is getting married. Fantastic. I can't wait to see more pictures. 

This week was pretty busy for me too. I'll just take you through the days. So monday we went and saw "Swan Lake". It was incredible!! Swan Lake in this nice theatre in the center of Moscow Russia. Unbelievable. You should definitely go some time

Tuesday: Zone Leader Council out at the mission home. The Area President was there, President Schweitzer. If I remember correctly, he gave one of the closing prayers at the last General Conference. He gave us some really specific feedback and advice for our mission. It was a neat experience.

Wednesday: Mission Conference with President Schweitzer. Again, way powerful stuff. And afterwards he interviewed a few of the missionaries, including the zone leaders. Very cool. Oh, and did I mention that every missionary got a copy of the newly retranslated Triple Combination. Oh man, it is beautiful. 

Thursday and Friday: splits with District Leaders. So every transfer zone leaders go on splits with the District Leaders in their Zone, and then the District Leaders go on splits with all the missionaries in their Districts. So my companion and I decided this transfer to just rapid-fire the splits, one right after the other. It's pretty exciting. And tonight we're going on another split followed by two more. It's gonna be an adventure. 

Saturday: We went over to Dina's house and she invited her friend. Dina is a great lady, but she's not really interested in religion (yet), for example when we came in and she saw that we had a Book of Mormon, she told us that we don't need to have it out. So my companion set it on the counter. But throughout the little "tea party" (Dina loves that phrase in English), her friend started asking all sorts of questions and even found the Book of Mormon on the counter and started looking through it. It was a little miracle. 

Sunday: George came to church! The guy from last week's story! He got there late, and could only stay for about an hour, but he came. That guy is incredible. So it turns out he had to work sunday morning and he had another appointment later on, but fsyo ravno, he rushed down (3 stops and a perekhod = about 20-25 minutes) stayed for about an hour, and then headed back up to work. He's a great guy. My companion stayed with him because I had to play the piano in Primary. I love those little guys. I even got asked to help with the lesson (see picture).

Life is good here in Moscow Russia. Spring is just around the corner. Everything is melting, znachet everything is muddy, and the work of the Lord goes on. Only 18 days left 'til the 82nd anniversary of the organization of the church. I can't believe so much time has gone by. 

Well, have a great week. I love you. Thank you so much for everything. I pray for you and I know you're praying for me; I see the miracles every day. 

Love 

Elder Hamp