Our First Snowstorm
Here is a picture of the view from our bedroom window this morning when we got up. Right now it is about 25 degrees Fahrenheit. It is expected to be about 25 to 35 the remainder of this week. However I think it is expected to warm up a little next week. I believe that the Siberian winter is upon us and will probably last until next April. We had a service project yesterday at our chapel with the young men and the missionaries. I was elated to have both of the young men in our Aaronic Priesthood at the branch raking leaves and cleaning up. It is a good thing we did it yesterday (even though it was freezing) because it looks like the window of opportunity to clean up around the chapel just closed.
The Russian Language
I have read that the most difficult languages for an english-speaker to learn to speak are (1) Finnish, (2) Mandarin and (3) Russian. I can now see why. It has been a very slow process for us. They use the Cyrillic alphabet, named after Saint Cyril. Cyril with his brother Methodius were greeks sent by the church in the 9th century to be missionaries to the Slavic people. The Slavs had no written language and Cyril is credited with creating the beginning of the current cyrillic alphabet. You will notice some Greek influence in this alphabet.
One of the reasons Russian is so difficult to learn is because of the "case" system. They do not use articles (I think that is what they are called) like "a" or "the." But the ending's of all nouns change somewhat depending on how they are used in the sentence. The ending of the noun changes depending on whether it is the subject, object, indirect object, used in a prepositional phrase and a couple of other ways. The adjectives and pronouns also change accordingly. There are 6 different cases and so there are sometimes six different ways to put an ending on the noun or pronoun or adjective depending how it us used. Its all very confusing and even the russian people have some difficulty with the rules but know when it "sounds right" just as we do in english.
Sometimes I am asked "have you witnessed the Gift of Tongues?" If the question is "have you heard missionaries who did not yet know the language, speak the russian language so as to be understood. The answer to that is "no." I have never seen a missionary able to communicate in Russian without having put in long hours of study and effort. But If you ask if I have witnessed the gift of tongues, and witnessed any miracles then the answer is without question "yes." We witness miracles every day. To me it is without question a miracle when I hear missionaries who have been in the field only a few short months approach strangers on the street to invite them to come unto Christ, and communicate with them about all kinds of matters with relative ease. With members of our branch the missionaries laugh, organize, report, help, comfort, encourage, pray and testify together all in the russian language. I see these miracles every day in our mission and every time it brings a lump to my throat. The hand of the Lord unquestionably directs this work and Karen and I are blessed and privileged to be a part of it.
For Karen and I the language is coming a little slower. We study and we learn a little every day but because our assignment is a little different than the missionaries we are not required to use the language as much and could probably go our entire mission without any further study. But to both of us there is a frustration not being able to carry on a simple conversation, so we study and try to get a little better each day.
We miss all of our friends and family but are happy in the work we are doing.
Here is a picture of the view from our bedroom window this morning when we got up. Right now it is about 25 degrees Fahrenheit. It is expected to be about 25 to 35 the remainder of this week. However I think it is expected to warm up a little next week. I believe that the Siberian winter is upon us and will probably last until next April. We had a service project yesterday at our chapel with the young men and the missionaries. I was elated to have both of the young men in our Aaronic Priesthood at the branch raking leaves and cleaning up. It is a good thing we did it yesterday (even though it was freezing) because it looks like the window of opportunity to clean up around the chapel just closed.
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| View from our bedroom window this morning, Oct. 11, 2012. About 25 F, 18-20 windchill. Should go into the 30's the rest of this week. |
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| Krasnoyarsk Aaronic Priesthood. Pavel (Pasha) on left, Elder Noel and Vitaly. |
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| The missionaries in our district. Ivan on the left is a local Young Single Adult who volunteered to help us out. |
The Russian Language
I have read that the most difficult languages for an english-speaker to learn to speak are (1) Finnish, (2) Mandarin and (3) Russian. I can now see why. It has been a very slow process for us. They use the Cyrillic alphabet, named after Saint Cyril. Cyril with his brother Methodius were greeks sent by the church in the 9th century to be missionaries to the Slavic people. The Slavs had no written language and Cyril is credited with creating the beginning of the current cyrillic alphabet. You will notice some Greek influence in this alphabet.
One of the reasons Russian is so difficult to learn is because of the "case" system. They do not use articles (I think that is what they are called) like "a" or "the." But the ending's of all nouns change somewhat depending on how they are used in the sentence. The ending of the noun changes depending on whether it is the subject, object, indirect object, used in a prepositional phrase and a couple of other ways. The adjectives and pronouns also change accordingly. There are 6 different cases and so there are sometimes six different ways to put an ending on the noun or pronoun or adjective depending how it us used. Its all very confusing and even the russian people have some difficulty with the rules but know when it "sounds right" just as we do in english.
Sometimes I am asked "have you witnessed the Gift of Tongues?" If the question is "have you heard missionaries who did not yet know the language, speak the russian language so as to be understood. The answer to that is "no." I have never seen a missionary able to communicate in Russian without having put in long hours of study and effort. But If you ask if I have witnessed the gift of tongues, and witnessed any miracles then the answer is without question "yes." We witness miracles every day. To me it is without question a miracle when I hear missionaries who have been in the field only a few short months approach strangers on the street to invite them to come unto Christ, and communicate with them about all kinds of matters with relative ease. With members of our branch the missionaries laugh, organize, report, help, comfort, encourage, pray and testify together all in the russian language. I see these miracles every day in our mission and every time it brings a lump to my throat. The hand of the Lord unquestionably directs this work and Karen and I are blessed and privileged to be a part of it.
For Karen and I the language is coming a little slower. We study and we learn a little every day but because our assignment is a little different than the missionaries we are not required to use the language as much and could probably go our entire mission without any further study. But to both of us there is a frustration not being able to carry on a simple conversation, so we study and try to get a little better each day.
We miss all of our friends and family but are happy in the work we are doing.
Hi Mom and Dad, It doesn't look like a ton of snow but you can tell just by looking at the picture that it is freezing. How deep is the snow in the dead of winter? It just started getting cold here. It has been raining all day and into the night and the kids say it's too cold to go outside. It's probably in the low 60s but to them it's way too cold. So glad you were able to get your young men out to your service project. It looks like it turned out great. I had no idea how hard the russian language is. I'm sure when it is time for you to come home you will have it down. Isn't that the way it always goes. We love you and are praying for you always. Love, natalie
ReplyDeletethose are neat pictures! it does look cold. I like what you wrote about the language, I can't imagine even trying to understand what others are saying in that language, I'm sure your doing great with it though. We are sure prouf of you guys. We love you, Love, Natalie
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