Elder and Sister Evans visit Vladivostok!

We were delighted to receive a visit from Elder and Sister David Evans! He is the Executive Director of the Missionary Department for the Church and a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. We are so grateful to him and to his wife for making the extra effort to visit Russia. They originally had assignments in Korea and Japan, but made it a priority to include our mission in their travels!

 Pres. and Sister Evans pose with our mission driver, Zhenya Beda.

Pres. Evans inspired all those in attendance to more fully live the gospel of Jesus Christ and to reach out to our friends and neighbors with the gospel message.

 Elder Evans was president of the Japan Nagoya Mission, Area President in the Asia North Area, and spends full time on everything related to missionary work. 

 Elder Evans is a master teacher. He inspired all in attendance to reach out to friends, family, and associates and bring them to the gospel. "Now is the time to gather Israel" he proclaimed.

 Our office elders, Elders Mitchell and Jewkes prepared a vinyl banner that contained signatures of missionaries from the Primorskiy Kray region and members of the branches in Vladivostok, Artyom, and Ussuriysk. The Evans were very pleased!

 The missionaries in the West Zones (Angarsk, Irkutsk, and Ulan-Ude) were not a part of this conference due to geographical constraints. (If this conference had been held, for example, in San Francisco, the missionaries in the West Zones would have come from Boston (equivalent) for the conference.) The missionaries in this photo who serve in Khabarovsk and Sakhalin flew 1 1/2 hours each way to attend. Russia is just so massively big!!!!

We bid a fond farewell to these dedicated servants of the Lord as they departed for Japan. Our next General Authority visit will be in May when Elder and Sister Per Malm of the Eastern European Area Presidency will visit our mission on the annual mission tour. All missionaries will have the opportunity to meet them and hear them speak.