11 Hours of Elder Jörg Klebingat

Good Morning! (to those who see this in the morning) 

Well as you see, the hilight of the week was a visit from Elder Klebingat of the 1st quorum of the 70, who is also a councilor in the Europe East Area. For those of you who don't know what that means, he is one of the leaders of the church. He spokein the October General Conference and gave a fantastic talk about "Approching the Throne of God with Confidence". If you didn't get a chance to hear his talk, or can't remember which one I'm talking about, go to that link and watch it! If you thought his talk was good, you should see him when he's set loose from 8am to 4:30 pm on a bunch of missionaries. It was incredible. From 8-11:30 am we had a Mission Leadership Council in which we discused the mission, what's going, what's not going. He gave us a lot of good direction, and invited us to start chaning a lot of things. Not that where the mission is at is bad, but that it can be better. In the following Zone Conference from 12-4:30, he addressed the whole mission, except for those in the Kazakhstan cities. If you thought he was bold in his talk, inviting members to act and to repent, you've just started to understand how bold he was with all of us missionaries. Bold, not meaning scary, or rought or intimidating, but inspiring, firm, and loving. He laid out the posibilities. Who we COULD become. What kind of missionaries we COULD be. Showing us what it would take, and that it was possible for any missionary at any point or time in his or her mission. Just as was the condition with his General Conference remarks, it is ours for the taking only if WE are willing, and if WE want it. 

After our Zone Conference we went over to the Marriott hotel where from 5:30-7 we had a member devotional. So a bit about Elder Klebingat. He's German. Heard about the church for the first time and got baptized when he was 18 years old. Served in the German army, and then served a full time mission to Colorado. Went to Rick's College where he met his wife who is from Latvia. She was there on a trip, and was not a member. They got married, and then he baptized her. Skip a few years and a few callings in the church, we find him a mission president in the Kiev Mission. Shortly after that and not long ago within the last year he was called to the Area Presidency. He speaks both English and Russian more fluently than I do. I heard that in their home with their kids growing up they would switch languages every week. English, German, Russian. I don't know how true that is but I wouldn't put it past him. So with his mastry of the Russian language he was able to speak with the members and interact with them during his fireside. It was incredible. All of the old ladies almost fell over when they found out how old he was. He's a lot older than he looks. That's what happens when you run marathons I guess. He spoke mostly about the Plan of Salvation, and how God shows his love for us. They had a Q&A session for the last half an hour. I really enjoy that format of meetings. They did it with Elder Bednar back last year when he visited Riga, Latvia and brodcasted it to the whole area. The conference was good. I saw a couple members from Tomsk and Omsk. :) After it ended, a camera crew jumped right in there with a news man. I guess they heard that the Mormons were in town, and wanted to check it out. Hopefully that all goes over well. 

So over here, we have lots of thoughts and things to digest from Saturday. 

As far as the rest of the week goes, I was on exchanges with Elder Coulter in Berdsk, and we went to do more service for Tatiana! The one we shoveled coal for. It had snowed a ton, so we went and shoveled out around her house, and on top of her coal shed. I love going down to Berdsk as it gives me a chance to get out of the city. The metro in Novosibirsk is great, but the smaller cities are nicer calmer and quieter. So here's a few pictures from that trip. Nice snowy Siberia. 

From Saturday through today it's been pretty chilly! Whenever it's -30 C and we don't have any meetings we stay inside. So if you check the weather and you see that it's -29 C and you might be able to guess that a meeting fell through, you can count on us being somewhere on the streets in Novosibirsk! But maybe not for long as transfer calls will be coming on Friday or Saturday. This is my 2nd transfer with Elder Stucki, and I have never been with a companion for longer than that so in order to keep that going, something has got to happen! I'll keep you posted. 

Have a great week! Read your Scriptures, and say your Prayers, and watch as the blessings come into your lives and homes. 

Much Love, 

Elder Moore

The Train depot in Berdsk, This guy plows the tracks?

Breaking out the Arctic Fox to keep me warm as we left the Peacock today. The Peacock is the name of our apartment, for obvious reasons. :)

put library, playground, shoe remont

A bit of Today's P-Day.

Today's trip to the Library

-Frozen trees

-Children's Playground

-Yellow guy is a shoe repair. This is where I brought my pair of dress shoes. They stitched them up!

-Fruit stand where we buy our produce every week. We're pretty good friends with the Uzbek guy that works there. 

All of that stuff is between our apartment, and our trusty Маршала Покрышкина metro stop which is about a 7 minute walk. Or when it's really cold, a 5 minute walk. 

Have a great week!