Barrett's email, June 24th

 Lunch with Elder and Sister Loveridge

A picture of a kayak-er 

View from the 22nd floor  

The first dodge caravan I've seen in over a year

Mountain goat ness ness

You probably can't tell from this picture, but this little dog's tongue was so long it was literally dragging on the ground

Email time already?!? This may have been the fastest week of my entire life. It feels like I was just here at this computer. Well, let's see, what has happened. Well, definitely the highlight of the week was Saturday when Elder and Sister L took me and my companion out to lunch. So it turns out they are serving in Armenia, but their assignment covers a few other countries including the Moscow West area. I guess they found out I was an Assistant in the Moscow mission so they asked the West Office Elders they knew me and, well, I just happened to be in the office at the time, so we talked for a bit and they offered to take us out to lunch the next time they were in Moscow. They are fantastic. I'm sure Alicia can tell you a lot more than I can about all they've done. I guess this is their second mission together. They were so nice. And when I showed them my pictures they recognized most of the people, especially the picture of Tanner at my farewell. We don't know if they'll still have the Moscow West area when the missions combine, so we might not see each other again for a while, but it was good to see them. Definitely a pleasant surprise.
Concerning Elder Christoffersen: I didn't get much of a chance to talk with him. I just shook his hand and told him my name and where I was from. He remembered El Dorado stake. He even told his wife, this Elder's from El Dorado Stake. haha
Concerning Old Arbat: Yes, we will definitely go to Old Arbat.
Concerning the mission merge: The official merge will happen on July 1st. Well, actually President Wooley is going home today, so he's passing the keys to President Sorenson today. But the Official merge is the 1st. On the 3rd we will have a big combined meeting with everybody there. And then transfers will be on the 12th, and it's gonna be a crazy one. Concerning what I will be doing: Well, as early as July 4th, or as late as July 12th, I will be companions with Elder T, who is from what is now the West mission. Right now in the West mission, the assistants do not have a homebase, they spend the whole transfer traveling from city to city going on splits with every companionship of Elders in the mission. They do have an apartment near the mission office, but I guess they don't use it often. So for at least this first transfer after the merge, President I think has decided to stick to the model the West mission is using for the assistants.
Concerning the Transcript request forms: Yep, I got 'em.
Concerning a hypothetical package: say for example, if someone were already planning to send a package, and there was a little bit extra room and they were wondering if there was some random item they could put in this theoretical package, maybe they could put some mints or black socks there. but if they weren't already planning to send a package, the need would not be so great that a special package for this purpose would be necessary. Hypothetically
Concerning the year in Russia mark: It happened last friday
Concerning Kirill: He's awesome. We couldn't meet with him this past week... because he was planning a youngmen's activity! Magnifying your calling, a reasonable excuse.
Well, love you. Have a great week. Congratulations to dad. I love how these emails just keep getting better and better every week. Tell everyone hi from me
Love
Elder Hamp

Barrett's email, June 17th

 General session of Stake Conference

Stake conference was in the Congress hall of the World Trade Center 

A "veggie Burrito" (I dont' know if you can tell, but it's just green beans and cheese sauce) 

 Combined mission meeting. Outside the central building

Combined mission meeting. Inside the central building

Me on Old Arbat street in service clothes (aka laser tag clothes)

Happy Father's day!!!!!!
That license plate is literally the coolest thing I have ever seen!! That's exactly how they look! Is "77" really part of his license or did that just come with the plate, because there a lot of plates here have 77 over there, and I'm not sure what it means. Oh man, that's awesome.
...It sounds like this week was great. I'm glad to hear that Beans is alright. It was good to hear from Greg. Congratulations to dad for finishing the training, and good luck on the test!
Well, this week was great here, too. I don't even know where to begin. On thursday we had this crazy meeting. The Moscow mission and the Moscow West missions were there, the entire area presidency, Elder Rasband, Bishop Stevenson, and Elder Christofferson. It was incredible. They all spoke, some even in Russian. And then on Saturday and Sunday we had Stake Conference. It was awesome. They spoke of faith, the Spirit, the Book of Mormon, tithing. Elder Christofferson asked the Patriarch to speak. And with no preparation, he gave an incredible talk on the scriptures. For the Sunday session, my companion and I were in charge of directing people to the place. It was cool to see people from the four wards I've been in since the beginning of my mission. I love these people.
Well, gotta go. I love you. Be sure to tell Grandma I love her. Have a great week.
Love
Elder Hamp

Rob - The Best Trainer Ever!

Rob Ellis was a funny guy.  He was the best trainer ever!  He was so smart, funny, cynical.

He passed away today and I just want to collect some of my thoughts about him -

He used to say "no good deed goes unpunished'. I used to tease him about being a cynic, now I quote him.  Not that I am cynical but I do understand what it means much more than I did then.

He taught me how to be a good trainer, to pay attention to all the details, to show up early, to plan for all reasonably possible situations that could come up;  I knew to stay and be responsible for my class because in Training for Trainers he always told the story of when he did a presentation at a managers' conference with the flu; I learned how to research and piece together information to create a class from him telling the story of cutting books up to piece together content; I learned how to put on a managers' conference from referring to his work plan that was 15 years old with ever detail necessary to be successful; I recognized the importance of dressing professionally in the classroom because he always had his 'class wardrobe' and his 'office wardrobe': I learned that he was a professional when I realized that he seemed to really get along in class with a co-trainer I found out later he didn't get along with at all;  I learned that he was a wonderful son when he would taking his parents on a couple of annual trips that they always liked to go on and then after he retired, how he took care of his mother after his father passed as she sunk into that alternate world called dementia.

Several of us worked together in training and we were close - Glenda, Kathy, Angelece, Rob, with Dana as support and Wayne as manager.  Then later with Lynn. We all cared for each other, but any talk about being friends or staying in touch was always met with his acknowledgement that we were not his friends just the people he worked with.  Still we all loved him and we all know that he really did care for us. But true to his wish, he didn't let us keep up with him after he retired.

We all found out yesterday that he was in the hospital and was only going to live for a day or two.  We still don't know what happened.  I am so grateful for Angelece, who went and sat with him today. She was there with him for about an hour.  She told him that we all missed him, how we all enjoyed how he trained, loved his sense of humor and what a good job he did.  She thanked him for many things and gave him words of eternal comfort and peace.  She was with him when he passed and I am grateful that she was there...the errand of angels is given to women...and she is a special one.

I wish I had  photos to capture the pictures I have of him in my head...in front of the classroom in the back of ER files; walking the side of that scary building; his reaction when I wore a new red jacket :); getting so agitated about some decision he thought was so ridiculous; him lighting up when he talked about his dogs.

Circle of Life. I am grateful for God's Plan of Happiness.

Barrett's email, June 10th

Me and a fountain

A couple more creepy clown statues  

 Me and Bysotskii (Russian singer/actor)

Me and St. George

Me and Pushkin?
Me and the clown at the circus?


Amy graduated?!?! Holy Cow! What's going on? That's unbelievable! Well, not that she graduated, of course, but so soon. Time is flying by. Well, Hapy Gradulations, you crazy graduated person.
Well, I'm glad to hear everything is going so well. Greg got a new car. That's awesome. I love your saturday. It sounds like the best saturday ever. And congratulations to dad in the new calling.
Bro. K... I'm so sorry to hear about his condition, but it's great to hear that he's doing well. Tell him I'm doing fine
Not to much has happened this past week. Just a bit of administrative stuff. Getting ready for all the changes. We had Zone Leader Council. It was really good. Everyone is very excited to make sure the merge goes down smoothly. Oh, and did I mention that Bishop Stevenson (Presiding Bishop), Elder Rasband (President of the Seventy), and Elder Christofferson (of the 12) are all coming this week? Yep, it's gonna be awesome. So if I get a chance I will talk to Elder Christofferson. How cool is that? He was only just there in the El Dorado stake and now he's here in the Russia Moscow stake.
Kirill is doing great. He was out of town in Ukraine for the weekend, so we didn't see him, but I'm sure he found a church over there.
A couple of the Senior couples have their kids visiting. We've had to help them get around a bit, buying train tickets, etc. It's going to be so cool when you all come to Russia and we get to go around to all the sights and stuff. I can't wait
Well, Thanks for the great email and for the pictures. It sounds like things are great back home. It really is good to hear. I love you guys so much. Have a great week.
Love
Elder Hamp

Barrett's email, June 3rd

 a weird building

 just another day in moscow

Family reunion, the three of us with our trainers

Vladimir's son

car art (fairly popular here)

What a week. I cannot believe what happened to Greg's truck! Holy Cow! Tell him I'm sorry.
Congratulations to dad for the job and the calling. I am excited for him
Well, it's the last transfer until the mission merge. Crazy. Transfers were this last week. We got one new Elder and one new Sister. In mission terms, the new Elder is my companion's great grandson (his trainer was trained by the missionary who was trained by my companion). That's cool
I also had a visa trip this past saturday, and due to a change in visa laws, we no longer go to Kiev, we go to Riga! that's in Latvia. Yep, pretty cool. Well, except for the fact that we don't leave the airport. We were there for about an hour and a half, ate at TGIFriday's, and left. Latvian money (the "Lat") is cool. They have some cool pictures of trees and animals and stuff on their money. The only problem is that 10 lats is like 25 dollars but it feels in your hand like only 10 bucks. So on the menu you see the "Cheesy Bacon Cheeseburger" for only 6 bucks (ie Lats) and you think "Holy cow, that's awesome" and you get it without any thought to the fact that it was really $15. Latvia is awesome
Last monday, after I emailed, our district had our quarterly culture night. We didn't manage to get tickets to anything good, so we ended up eating at Pizza Hut and then going over to a senior couple's house, playing games, and watching "Yeralash", this crazy Soviet kids show that that native Russian companion I had said would make a great little cultrure night activity. It was pretty fun. And don't worry, I own the yeralash dvd, so we can watch it when I get home. hehe
Well, that was pretty much my week. Kiril is still awesome. He fasted and bore his testimony on Sunday. One of the ward buildings couldn't renew their lease or whatever, so until we find a new building, there are three wards at the Central Building. Kind of like back home with Placerville, El Dorado, and Diamond Springs, except the building is half the size. It's gonna be an adventure.
I love you guys all so much. Have a great week. Tell Sister Moore "Happy Year Mark" for me. The church is true. Talk to you later. Dear Elder is free
Love Elder Hamp