From Russia With Love

Thursday night I attended a lecture for single adults at an LDS Stake Center in Provo. The speaker was Gary Browning, a longtime professor of Russian at BYU, and former mission president to Russia in the early 1990s. He was actually based in Finland, and would travel to Russia. Today he has a calling as Patriarch to the a large portion of the Russian nation. He travels to Russia a few times a year to meet with Church members and give them a priesthood blessing known in the LDS Church as a "Patriarchal Blessing." On these trips he will meet with several members of the Church each day, moving from city to city. He generally does not have an opportunity to meet these individuals ever again. In his brief visits with these members he is able to learn a little of each individual's personal history. He has a strong love for the Russian people, and each of these meetings strengthens that love and admiration as he repeatedly hears of the inspiring faith of individuals who have embraced Christianity and the LDS Church, often in extraoardinary circumstances. Professor Browning did not really share any detailed accounts of such members, he gave a more general account of his responsibilities and activities. As I was writing this entry, it occurred to me that I could check the LDS Church web site at www.lds.org. I clicked on "Search" towards the top of the home page, on the page that came up I selected "Ensign" under the "Search Gospel Library Archive" option, entered "Russia" as the query, then clicked on "Search." There were many matches in the Search Results, and item 7 turned out to be the following article: Gary Browning, “Pioneering in Russia,” Ensign, June 1997, 25. I read the article, and there were several fascinating and inspiring stories. I'll reproduce one of them below - - if you have further interest you can find the article, and possibly other materials, on the website. The Bazarskii Family “I live in Voronezh [about 250 miles south of Moscow] and am a professor of English at an institute. … Thanks to the heritage of my parents, at a young age I learned about God. … But I never went to church, and I didn’t read the Bible until I was 40. Once I became an adult, I tried to attend church in other cities when I went on professional trips. … At 19 I married. My husband [Oleg], a physicist by education, was a thorough atheist, and at the beginning was amused by my ‘faith’ and prayers. … “The year 1985 brought great changes into my spiritual life. I was able to go to church openly, fearing neither the KGB nor any unpleasantness at work. … Then came September 1991 and my first-ever international linguistics conference in Zvenigorod, near Moscow. At that time occurred what was for me a momentous meeting with professors from Utah. “In our lives are many coincidences. And so it seemed that by sheer coincidence I was drawn into a discussion about contemporary Russia. … Suddenly I heard a question: ‘And how has the status of the Orthodox Church changed?’ I felt that the question was addressed to me personally. “In four or five phrases I tried to explain how much the church meant to me and my family, and how happy I was that now I could speak of my faith openly. I didn’t have to fear being a believer. This sincere but awkward answer, as it turned out, touched many people in the room, especially the gray-haired professor who had asked the question. It was Dr. Robert W. Blair from Brigham Young University. We became acquainted, and I invited him to Voronezh. “In the spring of 1992 Dr. Blair came … with his family to see us for the celebration of the Orthodox Easter. I invited them to a church Easter service. I had been eagerly awaiting this event. That spring … I was fasting and for the first time in my life attended confession, and I thought I was beginning a new life without any transgression or deceit. “While on my way to church that day, I hoped to experience there the feelings of Tolstoy’s heroes, so well described by him in Resurrection. But it turned out otherwise. The Holy Ghost did not descend upon me. Though the ceremony and the brilliance of the golden vestments were dazzling, the service itself did not move me at all. … I returned home discouraged, convinced that my personal sins had not allowed me to experience any feelings of redemption at the service. “During the summer of 1992, however, students from Brigham Young University arrived in Voronezh to teach English in nursery schools. I came to their Sunday meeting and was struck by the atmosphere of love and warmth that prevailed there. I wanted to become like them, and I wanted my son [Aleksandr] to be with them. These were unusual Americans, people unlike any others I knew. “At first I wasn’t going to change anything in my life. Would it really be impossible to be a member of the Orthodox Church and at the same time follow the principles of the Mormons? … Sooner or later I would have to decide for myself which side I would be on: with the Orthodox Church or with these new, unfamiliar people, whom I wanted to become more like. “This choice tortured me and would not allow me a moment’s peace. All the while it seemed to me that by choosing the Mormons I would betray the faith of my fathers, and that God would not forgive me for this apostasy. I prayed and asked God for an answer, and it came. “One day during the summer while I was sitting on the bank of a river gazing into the water and persistently thinking about the choice I had to make, I perceived a distinct voice that said I would not betray anyone, that I would simply progress farther and believe more deeply. “It’s difficult to describe the feelings that I experienced upon hearing this voice: surprise, relief, happiness. I continued to attend the students’ meetings, and then I took the discussions from the missionaries in Moscow. It was there I was baptized on December 15, 1992, on the eve of the students’ flight back to America. “My life changed. I became more tranquil, tolerant, and patient. Problems in our family life gradually diminished. For the first time in my life I understood the meaning of the words ‘quiet happiness,’ that is to say, harmony with oneself and peace of mind. During that year I became convinced that faith is capable of growing, and much that I had doubted a year ago now seemed true and right. “I don’t know what exactly it was that first influenced my husband, whether it was the example of my son and me or his interaction with the students, the mission president, or the missionaries, but in September 1993 he began to regularly attend church. … On January 15, 1994, he was baptized. … Now we are all together. “The first time I saw the student members of the Church I said to myself, This cannot be a bad church with such good people. Now I can testify that this Church is true, and that it leads people to light. This Church gives people hope, and with hope it is easier to overcome those trials which are sent to us. I know I am not alone. My family, friends, and brothers and sisters are with me, as is our Heavenly Father, who wants me to be happy.” Sister Bazarskaia has served in many callings since her baptism, including Relief Society president. Her husband became president of the Voronezh Branch. Their son, Aleksandr, served in the Latvia Riga Mission.