Barrett's email May 20th

Dacha service day. Found a couple toads and frogs. First wild animal I've seen in over a year! (stray dogs and pigeons don't count)

We thought this was the dacha we were going to have to work on, but don't worry, it wasn't 

A tree cut down by a real beaver

A real beaver dam

Gigantic memorial monument out in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere 

 For some perspective

 To make up for last week's lack of pictures, here's a few more

Kiril's baptism

 Me and Kiril

 My companion playing the banjo

 Me on Red Square

 Me on Red Square

 Me on Red Square

Well, It's official: Kiril got baptized! Oh man, it was incredible. Definitely the best day of my mission, if not my entire life. He is amazing. The ward really loves him and he loves them. It was probably the best baptism I've been to (and I'm not just saying that because it was our investigator). The ward and our district really came together and helped to make it a great day. Brother P, the ward mission leader, came home a day early from his business trip in Siberia to be there, and he brought refreshments!
Then on Sunday he received the Gift of the Holy Ghost. President Schweitzer, the area president, spoke and in his testimony he spoke directly to Kiril for a bit. It was cool. Oh man, Kiril is the best.
...
There was an american guy at church on sunday sent by the church to interview people for the first round of Russian Mormon Messages. Holy cow! How cool will that be. He showed me the list of people he had lined up and asked if I knew of anyone else who would be great in an "I'm a Mormon" ad. Somehow he didn't have Sister Gon the list.
Holy Cow, you shook an Apostle's hand. The new stake presidency is awesome. Oh man, that's great. Was it President Weston or his dad or someone who made that "17 points of the true church" thing? Do you remember that? They used to stick them inside the Book of Mormon. Do you know the story behind that thing? Did President Weston's dad come up with that?
Concerning the package: It came. Holy cow! Packages are the best. Be sure to tell Brother B thanks for everything. The t-shirt is fantastic. And tell grandma thanks for the fruit things. I really like them. The dried fruit chips are awesome. And thanks to whoever tossed in the Oreos. Did I tell you that we're going to Riga now instead of Kiev? Yep, so we won't be able to get Oreos any more. Kiev used to be the only place.
Concerning plaque pictures: I hope these will be adequate. I've sent a couple and you should be getting an email from my companion with a bunch of pictures we took on his camera. If these don't work, I don't know what will, just use my year book picture I guess.
In other news, we have Zone Conference, so Elder C and I are doing a training on teaching. We have a skit and everything.
Yesterday was the first Moscow Stake Priesthood meeting. It was really good.
Well, gotta go. I love you. Have a great week. It's always so great to hear from you all. It's great to hear things are going well. Dad is going to love his new job. Greg is going to love his new place. Mom is doing awesome at work. Kiril got baptized. Life is good.
Love
Elder Hamp