RUSSIAN TEMPLE TRIP

Information received through LDS-GEMS(R).

[We received the following message from Gems subscriber Anna Sterligova, a
young woman from Moscow, Russia.  We preserved her style and writing which
convey her sweet and sensitive testimony.  Thanks, Anna!]

My name is Anna Sterligova and I'm from Moscow. I'd like to tell you
about a trip of a Moscow group to the Stockholm temple.

There are always 4 trips to the temple in Sweden a year. Groups usually
consist of 20 to 100 people. There are people not only from Moscow but
also from other Russian towns. The trip takes 3 days and it costs about
$240, which is a lot for us. We have made our trip as cheap as possible.
At first, we went from Moscow to Saint-Petersburg for a night by train,
then we went by bus for 10 hours to Turcu, a Finnish city. Two Finnish
men, members of the Church, helped us with a trip to the temple. They
rented 2 buses and drove them for free for us. From Turcu to Stockholm we
went for one night by a ferry-ship.

The group consisted of 123 people, more than ever before. The temple's
hotel has rooms for only 112 people, so families were divided, and in one
rooms there were only women, in other only men.  My family fortunately got
1 room with 2 beds, my brother and I slept on the floor.

Adults were in the temple from the very morning to the late evening.
Every person did from 5 to even 7 sessions a day. They ate at the temple
too. They didn't rest, because who knows when we'll be able to visit the
House of the Lord again! My brother, I and other 10 children did baptisms
for the dead twice a day.

We were in the temple from Monday evening to Saturday morning. On Thursday
we had a testimony meeting. It was incredible! Almost every speaker cried
because of the strong Holy Ghost that was with us.  Wonderful stories were
told. Many people were able to find money to go to the temple by a
miracle!

There was a group of 6 deaf-and-dumb people from a Russian city Saratov.
We wondered how would they do ordinances in the temple. But everything
worked. There was an interpreter for that group. She was born in the
deaf-and-dumb family and the sign language was a second native language
for her. So during endowment and other ordinances she was translating for
them. Some wondered how would they talk while the endowment, but they
spoke with their own voices! One deaf-and-dumb woman spoke really well,
the other pronounced only vowel sounds. Oh, how they sang! With the rhythm
they articulated and showed words!

I think that a so long way to the temple has some advantages. Because
during that 3 days we talked only about the temple, we shared our
experiences about it. So the feeling of expectation captured us. When we
finally saw the statue of Moroni on small Stockholm temple above the
trees, the bus was full of applause and cries! Thank you.