Cold Benches

Здравствуй от Челябинска,
Hey from Chelyabinsk,

You may already know this but if you break the word “Челябинск” (Chelyabinsk) down to the roots it means “Don’t sit on a cold bench”. It’s understandable as the city’s name or you could just say it to someone as advice as they are departing. “See you later, don’t sit on a cold bench” (Пока, Челябинск!) Russians have not a short list of the ailments that might afflict you after an encounter with a cold bench.

I tried to send a few pictures home this week but email is acting funny so I don’t know if you got them. The picture that gave me the most trouble was potentially worrisome so I took it was a sign to not send it home. Oh well. We spent a majority of our time this week with a kindly old man named Thomas Rogers. He is one of the two Patriarchs for the Europe East Area. (Which contains Russia and some 10 to 12 other no-name countries). He taught Russia at BYU for 31 years. He was the first President of the St. Petersburg mission. And when I introduced myself he instantly smiled and remembered Morgan, and informed that there is a picture of Morgan in a book they published about the church in Russia. Cool. It’s been so nice lately to have two very spiritual men come to Chily two weeks in a row. We got to spend a lot of time with the Patriarch as, actually literally all of his three days in Chily were either in his hotel room or with us. It was funny because President wanted us to take him somewhere nice to eat and the only place he wanted to go to was a cheap dingy cafeteria. Most missionaries don’t even know Russia has them, but apparently he’s way into them. Here are some the tribes he gave while here, Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Judah. It was such pleasure to see the saints get blessings after waiting for so long because patriarchs can only make it so rarely. Artyom's date's coming up and he’s doing great. Love you.

Bye,

Elder Magleby