The Christmas Spirit hasn't left me.

Dear Family,
I thought it would have been trivial to e-mail you since I just Skyped with you yesterday, but then I remembered there is a whole bunch of stuff I wanted to say. First of all, to explain the service project we did last week, we went to an orphanage and shoveled out the snow from one of their playgrounds. There was a lot of snow, and there was a little stage area which was covered in ice. Elder Patton stepped on it, and fell flat on his back! He is okay but it was kinda funny. So we shoveled snow, and the sisters washed walls. There is this thing in Russia, that girls do not shovel snow or do work like that. The sisters were a little irritated that they couldn't shovel snow like us, but they were grateful to serve nonetheless. I wish I took pictures, because that was a very fun service activity. That's the thing, service with the proper attitude becomes fun! Service with a smile!

For P-Day last week, we made sugar cookies and decorated them with frosting. It reminded me of the cookies that we would have every Christmas at home, and it was very fun to make them. We made them for some of the members, and they really liked them!

Bolshoi Theater

Then we also had a culture night last week...as we saw the Russian Ballet perform the Nutcracker! The theater in Novosibirsk is the largest in the country, and the architect was killed for making it bigger than the theater in Moscow. For your information, the theater is called the Bolshoi Theater, or the "Big Theater". It is like Sputnik, which means "satellite". Very imaginative names. It was very beautiful inside the theater, I hope you can see the pictures well. There are a bunch of statues inside. I would have taken a closer picture, but then I don't think they would be "missionary appropriate". The Nutcracker was amazingly done, and it was awesome to see a Russian Ballet performed with a Russian Ballet company in a Russian theater in the heart of Russia! How Russian can you get? One of our favorite parts was when the Japanese dancers came on, and one guy jumped about 5 feet in the air and touched his toes in front of him. Imagine sitting down with your legs in front of you, touching your toes, and then doing it 5 feet in the air over 20 times in a row...exhausting doesn't it sound? The dancer had a roar of applause when he performed that stunt. Watching the Nutcracker made me miss the Folk Dance Team and all the musicals that I did in high school.

Then for Christmas, we woke up about 5:30 in order to get ready and go over to the Webb's apartment. They fed us breakfast and we Skyped home. If you want to share any tidbits, Mommy, you have my permission. (Mommy insert here:  It was amazing to hear Aaron bear his testimony in Russian. He sounds so fluent in the language, and the Spirit was so strong.  He looked wonderful!  It was the best Christmas present ever to see and hear him, and that every family member got to talk to him.)  Then we went to church. In Russia, they celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January with Father Frost instead of Santa Claus. It was different to us, because we celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December. But then I thought, "It doesn't matter which day you celebrate Christmas, because both are wrong anyway!" It was a little funny to think, because we know that Christ was born in April, but it doesn't really matter, because Christ deserves both holidays, and even more.

There was an amazing feeling at church, because the members still sort of celebrated Christmas on that day. They gave out candies and other goodies to us, saying "Снём Рожденством" Which is the Russian way of saying Merry Christmas. One of the inactive members we taught actually came to church, and it was wonderful to see everyone come to her and envelope her in love. I could actually see the action of enveloping, and I almost got smothered myself. It was pretty much a Christmas miracle to us, and it was very happy.

We had a Christmas party at the Mission Home, and the Gibbons gave everyone a picture frame, which I sent a picture of...cool, huh? (There is this website, called wordle.com, or something like that, and you can type any verse, poem, and it will make a word cloud and the bigger the word, the more common the word was used in the typing. It also omits words, such as "and" or "the" President Gibbons said it was very cool for patriarchal blessings. So mom, could you put my patriarchal blessing through it for me? It would be very cool, and an awesome birthday present.) So it is all the missionaries in our mission and the cities where we serve.

 

Then after that, we had a little Christmas devotional, where President Gibbons told us that he just recently heard that one of his books that he sent to be published before his mission was accepted. He was really excited, because the book is a collection of journal entries from his father, who worked closely with the Presidency of the Church for many years. You should try to look for it, mom, because it sounds really good.

Christmas Day in the Mission Home with Pres. Gibbons

We then had some fun, and a white elephant gift exchange. I got a can of sardines and some hand warmers. One of the worst gifts was a jar of Kopeks, which are the coins that make up roubles. There were over 500 coins, and about 150 roubles, which is about 9 dollars. There are no coin counting machines in Russia also, so the only place to take those is the bank. That's not going to be fun. The white elephant gift I gave was the best, I found this cheap Justin Beiber doll at a little road shop. It was so funny, and everyone was laughing for a long time. An Elder got the doll, which just made it the best.

 

Now the greatest thing is the man who is in the picture with me. His name is Georgi, and you make the "Guh" sound on the G's. He was baptised Christmas Eve and confirmed Christmas day. He personally told all of us to tell all of you that he knows the church is true, and that he knows that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. He promises you that he will stay active in the church for the rest of his life, and that he is grateful for the church and the direction it gives him in his newly started life. I have only met him at his baptism, and I have rarely seen such a devoted member. He is an example to all of us about how we should behave towards the church. We all are missionaries, even those without tags, and we should be proud to be members. He is such a nice man, and I wanted to make sure all of you knew that he has a testimony of this Church.

Georgi

The Christmas Spirit doesn't seem to have left me. I listened to the tape you sent in my package. I was amazed at the testimonies and was humbled as you told the blessings you have received because I am thousands of miles away. I have a lot of work to do, and I hope my work will be acceptable. I don't feel homesick from talking to my family, but rather I have a greater resolve to share the gospel, because I know it's true, and my family knows it's true. I love you all, and I was so grateful to see you and talk to you.

Merry Christmas to all, and a Happy New Year!

Elder Hoggan (The Siberian Messenger)

I am Skyping at 6:00 PM on Christmas Eve

I am going to be Skyping Christmas morning, Dec. 25th at 8:00 AM, which puts it at 6:00 PM for you on Christmas Eve.  I am so excited to see and talk to everyone.  I can't wait to see how big the grandkids are! 

So what happened this week?

WELLLLLLLLLLLLLLL....

Last Monday, on P-day, we were playing football in the snow. The very first pass, Elder Patton on the opposing team, the ball is passed to him, I try to intercept it from behind, but the ball slips through Elder Patton's fingers, and hits me right in the face, knocking my glasses off. My face got all swollen and red, my lip was swollen and bleeding, and I wish I had a picture. I wanted a black eye, but no such luck. All was well the next morning. My glasses frames broke, but the miracle of Super Glue came to the rescue, but there is still a big chip in the frame. No damage to the lenses, thank goodness!

I was wearing my big heavy coat I bought a few months back, and oh my GOSH it is hot! The hood is really good, because it takes the wind chill off, and the coat is full of down, so I feel like a giant marshmallow.

We met with Anton this week, and began teaching him the commandments. He is very into fitness, so he doesn't smoke, or drink. He speaks pretty good English, and he keeps saying, "It is easy. The commandments are 1st class," or like kindergarten. I wonder what he will think when we start talking about tithing and Sabbath day observance. Will it still be 1st class?

Then Wednesday, we met with an inactive member. She is little бабушка (Babooshka or grandma. Teach the grandchildren that for me! Grandpa is Дедушка (Dedooshka)). She is an amazing painter. She has actually sold paintings, and they are really pretty. She treated us to some fine Russian dining, namely the fabled холодец (halla-detz). Dad, this is a dish I hope you will never make. Pretty much it is jello, but it is made of fat and pig parts. The jello is lard....then there are meat chunks...it is salty, and she said it wasn't as salty as she would like...it was horrible. That was by far the most disgusting thing I have ever eaten, and I hope to never eat again. I knew about холодец  at the MTC, but I still wanted to eat some, just to say that I have eaten it. My companion didn't know what it was, and she gave him an extra helping...Poor him.

We were in a splits, so I was with an Elder Hyde. We had nothing planned for the evening, so we decided to go tracting. In Russia, the apartments are locked with what is known as a domaphone. You key in the house number on this pad, and you can talk to them on a phone that is built in the apartment. They can allow you into the apartment building by pushing a button on the phone. The challenge is getting someone to let you in. Once you are in, you can knock on all the apartment doors. Most people don't really open the doors, but ask through who you are. The first instance, we finally got in, and we knocked on a door at the very top. This old lady spoke, and she demanded to know what we wanted. When she heard we were missionaries, she told us to leave. We were leaving,walking down the stairs, and then she opened the door, and demanded to know who let us in the apartment. We didn't know who it was, and she demanded why we knocked on her door. She seemed to not believe that we were missionaries. I walked up to tell her what we were here for and she told me to not move further. She was angry, and demanded us to leave, we did, and left quickly as she was knocking on another person's door. It was a wonderful experience.

The best part about this week was the Christmas program. It reminded me of home, and I took care to take pictures. I hope you like them! It was so cute to hear the primary children singing the Nativity Song. Elder Patton and I were part of the choir, and the pictures were from the choir seats. The nativity was very well done, and it was wonderful to think that thousands of miles away, my family would do the same thing. It was almost exactly like ours, and I even think they attempted to use a real baby for the Christ Child!

I am excited to see you all, and to see how much the kids have grown.

Christmas is a very special holiday for me, and even being far away from home, I grow in love for the holiday. I have family here in Novosibirsk, and I don't feel homesick at all. The places and people may be different, but the Savior and His love for us is still the same everywhere. That is all that matters, for it is His birth that we celebrate.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas! С днём Рождество (S-gnome Rozh-dect-vo)

Elder Hoggan (The Siberian Messenger)

You can find answers in the Temple

For Christtmas, it will be very difficult to know for sure what time I can call. People in Russia don't celebrate Christmas like we do. Their Christmas is the New Year, not the 25th. We will be having a full Church services on that day. I am pretty sure that we will be doing that about 8:00 at night, YOUR time. I don't know if we will be doing skype or what. I promise you that I will find out this week. It has just been a really crazy week, with going to Finland for a while. I haven't been in the area for a while.

Dear Family, I am sorry you didn't get my first e-mail, so I sent it. I just have to say that this week was really crazy. I did in fact go to Finland, and I got to perform baptisms and endowments, which was very spiritually uplifting. I am vowing that when I get home, I will make an effort to go to the temple as much as I can. I can testify that any question or problem that you have, you can find the answer in the temple. I had questions about how to be a better missionary, and a better trainer, and I received my answers in the temple.

We actually met missionaries for the Yekaterinburg mission as well there. It was their visa trip, and it was really cool to talk to them. Mom, if you remember someone by the last name of Copp, or Kopp, just sounds like "Cop", he went to E.G King elementary. He remembers your name. This just shows how small a world this planet is. What are the odds that I would meet someone going to a different mission, and meet in another country, and we have connections?...amazing...

So we spent a while in Finland, just the same things. I sent a package, too. It has the soda can nativity, and Britton's present. The hardback book is a (Ежедневник) "Yeh-zhuh-nyev-nik" or a daily planner. People use these books as journals, and to write stories down. It is very popular in Russia. The two books are two fairytale books. I didn't have time to translate them, But one of them is about a pirate in Africa who eats little children..."Barmalei". I will have to translate them when I get home. Then there is a CTR ring in Russia. I wanted to get one for all the grandkids, but they didn't have that many at the Distribution center in Finland.

So, we went to the zoo during a P-Day, and it was very fun! That was the first time I have ever seen a liger, and a siberian tiger. It was awesome!  I hope the grandkids like the pictures. (That sign is about the Liger, or Лигр "Lee-gur")  We were so close to the animals, and we were even playing with them. No, we were not doing anything dangerous, just moving about outside the cage, and they would follow us. It was very funny and fun.

For one of our new finding activities, we had a movie night, and we showed "Finding Faith in Christ" we had invitations and we gave them out. We were planning to use a projector, but at last minute, the projector wasn't in the place one of the members told us it would be. So we had to watch it on a small tv. It was pretty successful, and we got a new contact out of it. Our mission president wants us to try new finding activities, and our minds are buzzing with new ideas.

My favorite Christmas memory, you can pick out of the two in case one of them takes mine. The first is the ice rings. We would fill bundt pans with colored water, and then freeze them to rings of colored ice. Then we would place them aroud our ancestors' graves, place candles in the centers, and then sing Christmas carols around the grave. I just remember it being a very peaceful and sacred moment to me, to know that we will see them again, and that death is not the end.

I love how we collect nativities (with a new addition from "me") and then we decide to secretly give a Nativity scene piece by piece to someone who might be in need. It was fun to drive up to a person's house, sneak to the doorstep, place the Nativity piece in front of the door, ring the doorbell, and then run into the car, and drive away. It was even fun when I would hide and hear the kids as they came to the door. It made me really think about what I was giving. What greater gift was given, than the Savior to atone for our sins, and make it possible for all of us to return to live with our Heavenly Father? That is by far the greatest gift.

I love you all.

I pray for you, and I hope you pray for us.

This gospel is true.

Heavenly Father is always watching over us.

Elder Hoggan (The Siberian Messenger)

Hopeth all things....

Okay, here are the answers to your questions.
1. I accidentally forgot my camera at the apartment, so I can't send pictures. I also forgot to send pictures of Thanksgiving...I know that I am a forgetful son, so I am really sorry. I really wanted to send pictures.
2. That coat I bought a few months ago is awesome, and I have kept it in my bags. It hasn't gotten too FREEZING cold yet, and so I don't want to get it out unless I need it. I have sometimes used my pea coat, and it works just fine! I am keeping very warm and very happy.
3. I am actually going to Finland on Wednesday, and I will send Britton a present then. I hope he will like it. I found a place in Novosibirsk where they hand-paint matroshka dolls, and the senior couple, the Huffakers, got a nativity set painted. I don't know how long it takes, so you will have to wait until next year. I hope to have the soda nativity done before I leave for Finland, but I don't know.
4. I just don't know what time I will be calling for Christmas right now, so I will figure that out today. So stay  tuned next week.
This week has been a really cool week.
It was my first Training Meeting. I just have to say at the very beginning,  I wasn't feeling good at all. We have had such a hard time with little success. I felt like a failure, pretty much. Then in the very beginning, President Gibbons shared Moroni 7 with us, and pausing in phrases, and naming missionaries for each line. He came to me, and the line was, "hopeth all things". I knew that this was an answer I wasn't looking for, but I still got it. Missionary work is hard, and you have to always hope, because this is the Lord's work. I felt that I needed to hope for all things, and that all will be well. Then the training got even better. We talked about finding people to teach and different ways to find them. In Moscow, a couple of sisters set up a table covered in a paper table cloth with a sign, saying, "If you could ask God one question, what would it be?" Then they had copies of the Book of Mormon out, and people flocked to write down questions and to talk to the missionaries. They showed how the Book of Mormon answered all their questions. They got a lot of contacts, and many people left with Books of Mormon. This just shows how small things can bring about great things.
Some missionaries in our mission came up with a family history presentation and they would go to people's apartments and give their presentation about how to do family history. The people of Russia are very proud of their heritage, and they love talking about their ancestors. That reminds me...Mom, could you send me a fully-filled out copy of our family history? The copy I have has pieces missing, such as places of birth, and dates when their ordinances were done. I want to be able to share my family history with others, and I have been trying to fill out a family history chart in Russian, so that others can read it and see my heritage.
Hey, brother Michael. I have a question. What kind of finding ideas did you have in Alaska? I am just thinking about how the climate is similar, so I might be able to do some of the same things.
What else? Well, we haven't had any high winds, but we have had snow and ice. I wish that I could say I have never fallen down, but I have...twice...all on the same day. People don't shovel their sidewalks very much, and a lot of the roads are always covered in snow. Sometimes you would see cars swerving all over the place on the main highways, and that would just freak me out. We were looking for some inactive members, and they lived in a sort of village-area. If you have ever seen those old wooden houses, that's what this neighborhood looked like. The roads were covered in snow and ice, but they were really dirt roads. There were also dogs EVERYWHERE. Michael had to worry about being eaten by bears, we have to worry about being eaten by packs of stray Siberian Huskies. It was awesome.
We had an amazing experience about the Book of Mormon, like you Mom. We were teaching our investigator, Antone, and we asked if he believed the Book of Mormon to be true and the word of God. The Spirit filled the room as he said "yes". A testimony of the Book of Mormon is so crucial and is the first step towards conversion. If the Book of Mormon is true, then everything else from the priesthood, Joseph Smith, the Church of Jesus Christ, Temples, are all true, if the Book of Mormon is true. One of my goals for this transfer is to read the Book of Mormon in Russian, which will be very hard, but I think will be worth it. The Book of Mormon is such a precious treasure, and I am so grateful that we can read it every day, and that it can give us guidance in our lives. The Book of Mormon has given me guidance as I am teaching people, and has given me comfort in times of trial.
I am grateful for being able to serve with Elder Patton again, and finish his training. He is an amazing Elder, and I think amazing things will happen. In testimony meeting, one member talked about Рождество (Rozhdestvo). This is Christmas is Russian, but is translated along the lines of "The Birth". The member testified that this is a season of miracles, and that we are the ones who make the miracles. President Gibbons testified to us that if we tried at least 2 new finding ideas, that miracles would occur. Elder Patton and I are really excited to try new finding ideas, such as a movie night we are having on Saturday. We are inviting people to watch Finding Faith in Christ, and I hope that it will be really effective.
So I love you all, and I pray for you. I have remembered many weeks ago when I realized how many people are praying for the missionaries. People praying in the temples, wards and branches, stakes, The First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve, The Seventy, our families, my neices and nephews,  (Oh, is Sarah going to have a boy or a girl? I want to know!) All these people are praying for our success. With these many people behind us, we are not going out alone. Most importantly, Heavenly Father is with us. Now what could be scary about Russia with such a supportive group?
I love you all, and I wish you the happiest of joys.
Elder Hoggan (The Siberian Messenger)