An eternal family is a praying family.

Dear Family:
Well, since it is the beginning of the month, I read the Book of Mormon for the FIFTH time in Russian. I am right on schedule to read it 12 times before I leave. I am also right on schedule to finish the rest of the standard works in Russian by the end of this month.

To couple with scriptures study from last week, I would like to talk about prayer. I am so grateful for your examples of prayer and how you teach your children to pray. Sometimes I definitely feel their pure prayers in my behalf. It is easy to teach children to pray, but how can we teach our children to listen? I have found this to be the most difficult part of receiving answers to prayers. I remember one day, I was very discouraged, and I said an evening prayer that I bet never made it past the ceiling. I think that many of our prayers can be like that. I still felt horrible, and as I was going to sleep, I thought, "Why am I not getting an answer? They say that God always answers prayers, and here I was with one not answered. Immediately a voice said to me, "Because some are not ready to listen." I realized right then and there that the reason that I was not receiving an answer was that I wasn't listening. I had to humble myself, and be willing to accept the will of the Lord in my life. Listening is a skill that we all need to develop throughout our lives. We can always get better at it. I am trying to pause and assess what I feel in my heart while I am praying. That gives me time to ponder my words, and also gives time for the Holy Ghost to come in and give me direction. Another challenge with prayer is like the analogy that Elder Bednar gave with receiving revelation. I always feel like it is a foggy day when I pray, and I just try to make the best of my feelings and judgments. But one thing that I know is that Heavenly Father answers prayers...always. Sometimes I think the best answers He gives me is silence. He trusts us to use our gifts to solve our problems, and He will silently lead us, unknowingly until we find the answer. Also with silence, it is Heavenly Father saying, "You are not ready." That is when our faith has to come in. We need to have faith that all will be okay, because Heavenly Father loves us. He knows when we are ready for the answer. Even if I don't receive answers, I always feel His love, and sometimes that is answer enough for me. In this, I pray that we can focus a little more on listening to our prayers, and acting on those thoughts and feelings. Many of our commitments given to investigators includes the whole family. Will you pray with your family, kneeling, every day? What could be a greater way to start the day, with a family kneeling in prayer together? Then what could be a better way to end a day, with prayer again as a family? Thank you for your examples, Mom and Dad, that we prayed together. An eternal family is a praying family.

This month is the start of new missionaries coming in, missionaries transferring, missionaries leaving, leaving me with a headache. I am resolving this time to be more relaxed during the transfer, and we shall see if I am successful.

President Gibbons just came back from Estonia, Finland, and Kazakhstan, and we just met him out on the street while we came back from getting haircuts. With the new visas, we don't have to stay outside the country very long, we could leave an hour immediately after arriving. I don't know fully what will happen, but it will make the work easier and more efficient. I am not sure if I will get the three-year visa. I also figured out that the visa is a religious visa, so I probably couldn't use it for vacation or business. Sad.

I am really excited for Conference. Since we are such a different time zone, we just receive disks of copies of Conference. General conference is such a marvelous time. We can listen to the words of living prophets! A modern-day Moses is in our behalf, and we should treat the event as such.  Elder Harper and I even listen to general conference talks in Russian every once in a while, and they always inspire me. I want to make conference such an important time in my life, because we can receive all our desired answers. It was so cool to hear that Dad will be in the choir for priesthood session! It reminds me right before I left for my mission, I sang in the choir. I that was my first time seeing President Monson that close, and I just felt his spirit fill the room. His love permeated the room, and I felt a few tears fall.

The tiny girl is Irina. She was recently baptized into our branch. She is so tiny, especially compared to two giant missionaries! She is very humble and nice. She is learning ballet.

I will continue to share pictures, and share stories. These people are wonderful, and they have such strong spirits. These people are truly blessed, and I am grateful to be able to serve them. I love being a missionary, and I love my Savior, and I want to do my priesthood duty to serve Him. This is His church, and there is no other way to return to our Heavenly Father, but to follow the Savior and follow His restored Gospel, which was restored by Joseph Smith. I love you.

Elder Hoggan (The Siberian Messenger)