Barrett's email, March 26, 2012

 Happy Birthday Greg! Moy Brat! (Brat= Brother in Russian)

Way cool graffiti

Sting and Queen are coming to Moscow (in case you were wondering what they are up to) 

A way dark picture (my camera was on 'cloudy' mode for some reason) of District meeting in Arbatsky

My companion in a 'recording studio' (ie some guy's decked out flat) 

Graffiti found in a random stair well on the 20-somethingth floor of some random dom. Clearly we were meant to be there

You know what, It feels like it's been a really long time for me too. It's been quite a week. Elder R (my companion from Provo Utah) and I had a lot of stuff going on. We went on a couple more splits, we've have some more investigators. George is doing great. He is just incredible. He showed up to the last meeting ready with his Bible and Book of Mormon in hand. He's been reading them. He recounted some of the story of Lehi and Nephi. He understands everything. He likes to speak English, but he understands that we need to speak in Russian during the lesson, and he agrees. He wants to understand everything. He wants to know all the commandments right now so he can live them as soon as possible. Word of Wisdom is usually the big one for Russians, but George loves it. Even though doctors say that one glass of dry red wine is healthy for you, he understands that there are other things that are healthy, too, that don't damage your spiritual health. He came up with that, we didn't have to tell him. He asked about tithing the other day. He understands that it is a principle of faith. He just wants to be a good man. He tells us all the time, he doesn't want to be rich, he just wants to help people and always do good. He's a miracle. Just the other day, out of the blue, he told Elder R that he wants us to know he'd not doing this for us, because we're american, he's doing this because he feels like it's what he needs in his life, like it's the right thing. wow

Sunday was just crazy. Elder R got 5 investigators to church. For Moscow, that's a lot. About 5 to infinity (ask Elder S- our math whiz) times more than usual. It was the first time in either of our missions when everyone who said they would come, came. It was awesome. And Elder R had to take care of them the whole time because I had to translate and/or play the piano all three hours. It was quite a day at church. 
But that's not the end. Right after church we ran on down to a less active's house for a meeting. Another miracle. This family was baptized 18 years ago and have been inactive the last 5. The last time I went over the mom didn't seem to pleased that we were there, but the dad was awesome. One of the nicest guys in the whole world. In fact he reminds me a lot of Gale. Just a great guy. And they have a little 10 year old son, zhenya. Elder R and I decided to keep the meeting short, just a little spiritual boost. Well b kontse kontsov, the mom said the closing prayer. It was a miracle. It really was. Sorry, I'm running out of time. 
Did you get all the Red Square pictures? Did any of the turn out? 
Yeah, I definitely don't know what to say about college. I definitely trust you and Michael. So just do what ever needs to be done :)
I love you so much. Have a great week. Updates from other people, like the Johnsons, Julie, maybe even Brandon, go ahead and throw in a dear elder. Thanks to every one by the way for all the Dear Elders. I need to be better about acknowledging those. I really do appreciate and cherish every single one I get. 
Have a great week
Love 
Elder Hamp