No More Russian Mission Calls

Tiffany blogged about it, and Staci sent me the story, but when I went to see it later in the day, it was taken offline. It is still down, but I am sure that my mission buddies are interested, so thanks to my dad, I got an email with a copy of it. Here it is:

http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/68997

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.

Howell didn't comment on the cost of applying for visas or travel in
and out of the country while waiting for visas.

Like all non-native missionaries serving in Russia's eight LDS
missions, Ben Wade, a returned missionary from the Russia Samara
Mission, was required to leave Russia once a year in order to renew
his visa.

"We would fly to Moscow or St. Petersburg and then take a train to
Tallinn, Estonia," Wade said. "We would spend about four hours there
and then go back."

The trip, which took two or three days, was required once a year for
all the non-native missionaries in order to renew their visas. The
cost of the trip was more than just monetary, as groups of
missionaries were routinely pulled out of their areas.

"I had an obedient group," Wade said. "When we'd go, we would talk
about missionary work and come back excited about it. But for
rebellious missionaries, it was a time to goof off and break rules.
They would get really off-track."

Renewing visas has gotten increasingly complicated, Wade said.

Effective Oct. 4, 2007, non-Russian citizens are required to return
to their native country every 90 days in order to renew their visas,
according to a www.russianvisa.org, a Web site which assists
travelers in obtaining Russian visas.

The number of Russia-bound missionaries entering the MTC has tapered
off over the last year, especially during the summer, said Josh
Apple, a Russian teacher at the MTC.

"Last week, 30 missionaries were reassigned to places like Texas,"
Apple said. "They got the call on Tuesday and left the next day."

The missionaries were given limited time to go shopping and make
other arrangements for their new assignments.

Russian language teachers at the MTC have also been affected by the
change.

"Everyone still has jobs, but they can't hire more people," Apple
said.

Interesting, huh? I am intrigued as to why the news story was pulled.

Those Crazy Russians!

From the Official Gmail Blog.