TENSE CONDITIONS IN MOSCOW

Information received through LDS-GEMS(R).

[The following information was received from Sister Lisa Kelly, wife of
President Michael R. Kelly of the Russia Moscow mission.  With the tense
conditions in eastern Europe, this report is appreciated, and we echo
Sister Kelly's request for the faith and prayers of members that the
situation can be speedily resolved.]

I felt it particularly important that I write as tensions are escalating a
bit with the difficulty in Kosovo.  To be perfectly honest we don't hear
much.  We had to ask our driver today if the bombings were still going on.
It is a tense time in Russia.  We understand from him that some
politicians are calling for Russia to send arms, etc.  We pray ever so
hard that they may be persuaded not to do that.  It is one thing to sit in
our homes in America and listen to the news of bombings, and quite another
to be in a country close to it and surrounded by anti-American sentiment.
Our missionaries have not experienced any difficulties and we pray for
their safety.  Please pray for them and for Russia.

President Kelly has restricted the missionaries from going into the center
of Moscow.  They have removed their name tags and are not tracting.  They
are not to use their sign boards or to congregate in groups for any
reason.  They must only speak Russian on the street and never be loud or
do anything that would draw attention to themselves.  They can street
contact if they feel like they can.  Their nerves are a little on edge
right now.  Understandably.  They can't hide too well in a crowd.  They
are to avoid all groups of people and will mainly focus on member
discussions and teaching investigators. They will need to be in their
apartments by dark. That improved this weekend with the time change as it
doesn't get dark now until close to 8:30.  No one is to go near the
Embassy.  So far the violence has been directed at the Embassy.  All of
the windows facing the street in Embassy buildings have been broken out
and they had an incident today with a man shooting a machine gun, so it is
not the place to be.  Our building in Zelenograd had some pretty harsh
things spray painted all over it.  We were very sad to see that.  That is
where we attended church today.  Our missionaries are having people yell
"Yankee go home," but we get that all the time anyway.  Please we ask you
to increase your prayers for our missionaries and for the softening of the
hearts of the Russian people.

As some of you may know they returned a guilty verdict in the trial of the
man who killed and wounded the missionaries in Ufa.  They sentenced him to
30 years.  As President Kelly was talking about that he mentioned that the
sentence was 30 years and not life.  They do not have the death penalty in
Russia.  But given the prison system here, that was probably a life
sentence.  Tuberculosis is rampant in the prison system.  Health care is
little to none for them and it is worse than a nightmare to be in the
prison system.  When they do release prisoners they are many times
infected with tuberculosis and then it spreads to the general public.
They don't treat TB here until it is full blown and then often they only
give part of the drugs and not the full treatment.  They have a hard time
getting the drugs.  The mission doctor has seen 2 or 3 cases of TB in
missionaries in the last few months.  They of course have to be sent home
and undergo a six month series of 4 different drugs.