Thomas F. Rogers

A Call to Russia is in many ways a simple book, but it captured my interest and touched my heart. It is based on the journal Thomas F. Rogers, BYU professor of Russian, kept when he served as president of the Russia St. Petersburg mission from 1993 to 1996. (Rogers is widely known in LDS literary circles as the author of such plays as "Huebener".)

In the abstract, the idea of reading about the day-to-day life of somewhat ordinary, modern members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints doesn't appeal to me much, but in particular instances, like this one, I have found it to be rewarding. In a way, the experience of reading A Call to Russia reminded me of looking through The Mission, that gorgeous coffee table book containing photos of a day in the life of the LDS Church, except the few photos in A Call to Russia are tiny and in black and white, most of the pictures being painted with words.

A Call to Russia is both relentlessly candid and relentlessly faith-affirming. The things Rogers says are unlike the things you typically read in the Ensign and also unlike the things you typically read in Dialogue. Probably every returned missionary who reads it will have flashbacks to the joys and sorrows of his/her own mission. Much of the book is devoted to brief appreciative descriptions of the faithful saints Rogers encountered in Russia; on the other hand, Rogers also lists the last names of 11 former branch presidents whom he knew and admired who became inactive by the time he went home. The debilitating effects of poverty and alcoholism on the Russian people are described in vivid detail, as are the valiant, if not always successful, attempts of missionaries to help the people overcome them.… (more)