LDS Church Stops Russian Mission Calls

I recently got together with volunteers from this year's Camp Hobe' session for a party. One of those volunteers served in the same mission as I did in Russia. He told me that he heard they were no calling missionaries to Russia anymore. They were going to let the natives take care of the work. I guess it was due in part to the visa issues that plagued the missionaries after I served from 94-96. I am grateful I didn't have to go through that.

I am attaching of the text from the article and a link to the whole article.

BYU NewsNet: LDS Church Stops Russian Mission Calls

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has stopped calling missionaries from North America to serve in missions in Russia, officials at the church headquarters in Salt Lake City said.

“The missions are fully staffed and the work is going forward,” church spokesman Rob Howell said. “They have more missionaries than they can use.”

Howell would neither confirm nor deny the decision was influenced by the difficulty of obtaining and renewing visas for North American missionaries.

The original article can be found here.

I am not quite sure how I feel about this. I know for sure that I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to serve the Russian people and to open doors or plant seeds for the missionaries that went after me. In a way I think this is good because I think the natives should be teaching their own to a certain degree. A lot of members from Russia have served missions in the states and/or are serving in other parts of the Ukraine or Russia. This is a great opportunity for them to grow as a country especially with the building of the Ukraine temple.